BARCLAYS CAPITAL
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Heikki Monkkonen |
In a tough year for structured credit, Barclays Capital debuted innovations that held up and research that both made meaning of and found value in the tumult.
Led by Heikki Monkkonen, BarCap's European credit structuring team issued the first bespoke constant proportion portfolio insurance deal (DW, 6/22). Alhambra--which was managed by Deutsche Asset Management--survived the summer's credit crunch better than index-based CPDOs, which were forced to roll and convert short-term market fluctuations to cash losses. It issued a series of low-leverage exotic products on indices, tranches and single-names, which performed well in the recent steep-curve, high-volatility and range-bound spread environment. BarCap also offered the first Indian-only synthetic collateralized debt obligation and in the U.S. was a market leader in credit swaptions.
BarCap's global structured credit research and quantitative strategy publications were universally praised, and the firm stood out for also having strong infrastructure and distribution channels. "A lot of firms can be great on ideas, but not on distribution," said one client. "[BarCap has] the full set of ideas, distribution, infrastructure and resources to bring good ideas to fruition."
Other Nominees:
* Lehman Brothers * Deutsche Bank
* Calyon * JPMorgan