Continental Banks Control Awards In European Market

FRANKFURT--In one of the most dynamic and rapidly evolving areas of the business, the big European players secured the top positions in Continental Europe this year, according to the FX Week/ Infinity poll.

In the Frankfurt category, FX giant Deutsche Bank, which completed its merger with Bankers Trust (BT) in June, snatched back the regional title from Dresdner Bank, which held the position briefly last year.

Meanwhile, Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP), fresh from its link-up with rival Paribas, was voted best bank in FX in Paris for the third year running.

In Zurich, UBS, which merged with SBC Warburg Dillon Read in June of last year, took the top spot in the new category for best bank in the euro/Swiss currency pair.

Market officials say the next stage in the development of the European market is likely to be a spate of cross-border link-ups, such as that rumoured between Deutsche and Societe Generale.

Alex Barrett, Deutsche's joint head of FX sales in Europe, attributes the bank's return to prominence in Frankfurt to a renewed concentration on its core domestic market.

"We've really increased our client focus across the whole of Germany--a market in which we had relatively underperformed recently," he says. "Our business has seen a dramatic improvement globally over the past three years, and we decided to improve our services in Germany, when it was becoming eclipsed by our other locations."

Barrett also notes the positive impact of the euro on Deutsche's FX activities: "We handled the transition very well, so were able to capture marketshare in the run-up and post-euro period."

Meanwhile, BNP has topped two categories this year--best FX bank in Paris, and best bank to manage the transition to the euro.

"It has been a decent year for us," says Henri Foch, head of FX and FX derivatives in Paris, although he acknowledges that FX performance was not as "outstanding" as in 1997 or 1998. Like most banks, BNP experienced a slowdown due to the introduction of the euro. "Forty per cent of our revenue disappeared overnight," he says.

However Foch remains optimistic about the future. He emphasizes the continuing strength of the bank's FX sales and structured products teams, and claims that the merger with Paribas will help raise the group's global profile. "We aim to be in the top three to five European FX banks, and in the top ten in the world," he says.

The award for handling the euro changeover was no big surprise, says Foch. BNP invested a tremendous amount of time and money preparing for the launch, and began the transition earlier than most other banks.

As for the future of the Paris market, Foch thinks that the introduction of the euro has changed everything. "Paris as a marketplace doesn't really mean much any more," he says. "There is a European marketplace now, but some of us are in Frankfurt, some of us are in Paris and some of us are in London."

Meanwhile, UBS maintained its grip on the Swiss market with the award for best bank in the new euro/Swiss franc pair.

Recent consolidation in the Zurich market has left the centre dominated by just two institutions -- CSFB and the combined UBS/SBC group.