List of Top 10 Equity Research Firms

1. JP Morgan Chases and Co
2. Bank of America Merrill Lynch
3. Credit Suisse
4. Barclays capital
5. Citigroup
6. Goldman Sachs
7. Morgan Stanley
8. AllianceBernstein L.P.
9. UBS
10. Nomura Holding Inc

Let us discuss each of them in detail -

The biggest one is that the giant JP Morgan was registered in 1895. By the year 1900, it became one of the most powerful banking houses in the world. Today, this company is the world's 6^th largest bank in its total assets. A huge variety of products and services are offered by the company globally. This American MNC rules the market with its historical expertise in the equity market.

• Bank Services

With many exclusive products to offer, the bank is the largest investment bank in the USA. They have a huge history of acquiring banks and other companies, which is definitely a must-read.

• Office culture

If you want to be excellent in stock acquisitions, this is the place to be. It is a workplace for people who want to learn something new or sharpen their skills. Business is all they know and talk about.

• Strength/weakness

The strong J P Morgan culture and know-how is the strength of this company that allows it to last through its highs and lows with stability. However, they have been involved in several legal controversies.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch believes in delivering world-class financial services to their clients as they strongly believe that their business rotates around their clients. They offer various sets of products for all businesses combining the best local knowledge and international expertise. They started their operations after bank of America acquired Merrill Lynch in 2009.

• Bank Services

This company has a variety of clients, including individual and government clients. They operate in two different locations; independently. However, they are interrelated units. The companies have no looking back in their financial services business with two different cultures and financial expertise.

• Office culture

The company is spread over 12 countries with the top 5 corporate banks in Asia pacific. Values their employees; however, their focus is their customers. It has key operations in over 150 locations.

• Strength/weakness   

Their greatest strength is their collaboration in the year 2009 with Merrill Lynch. Together, they have accounted for more than a total of the banking giant's total revenue.

Credit Suisse is one of the best employers and has a global reach of its operations in more than 50 countries. This company was founded in 1856 as it is a Switzerland-based company. They believe in a very balanced approach to capturing wealth management opportunities in the emerging market, which makes them different from the others in the equity market.

• Bank Services

This organization is divided into four parts: investment banking, private banking, asset management, and shared services group. With the number of acquisitions and restructuring itself in the years 2002, 2004, and 2006 it was a company least affected in the crisis of 2008.

• Office culture

With several 48200 employees from 150 different countries operating in more than 50 countries, they have a broad footprint to balance themselves with the flow of revenue and grab opportunities worldwide.

• Strength/weakness

Employees from various countries help in balancing the geographical flow of revenue.

A British MNC with its headquarters in London provides risk management services, financial advisory, etc. to huge companies, institutions, government clients, etc. They have an experience of 20 successful years in investment banking. Barclays is, in fact, a dealer in U.S. treasury securities and also for several European government bonds.

• Bank Services

Barclays offers various products and services with over 325 years of banking experience. They have a very strong presence in the U.S. and the U.K. market. They provide services to both corporate and individual retail clients worldwide.

• Office culture

With more than 130000 employees, the bank successfully operates in more than 40 countries.

• Strengths/weaknesses

Their strength is driven by strong values that help them deliver strong and sustainable results. They have measured values and results.

It is not famous as an American MNC, even as a merger of banking giants such as Citicorp and the Travelers Group combined in 1998. One of the largest companies in the USA by its assets, it was the largest company and bank till the 2008 crisis. They are also one of the primary dealers in U.S. treasury securities.

• Bank Services

With a huge customer base globally, Citi operates in more than 25 countries successfully. They are versatile with their services, from personal banking to the corporate and security markets. They have expertise in all fields.

• Office culture

One of the best employers globally has over 2,39,000 employees working with them happily. They focus on employees with versatile talent and, of course, the best employees in the industry.

• Strengths/weaknesses

Their strength is in the slogan they learn from the past, and the future inspires them.

Goldman Sachs is again an American MNC founded in 1869 with its headquarters in New York City. Marcus Goldman founded this company; they joined the NYSE in 1996, starting with a capital of 1.6 million those days. This company earns 16% of its revenues from its investment and lending accounts.

• Bank Services

They are into services like investment banking, institutional client services, investing and lending, and investment management for various segment clients.

• Office culture

They have a good employer record, and they strive hard to maintain the same. The management of the organization provides a very good positive atmosphere.

• Strengths/weaknesses

Approximately 32000 employees working with this organization globally are considered their assets and are paid good remuneration for their services.

An American MNC, Morgan Stanley has its headquarters in New York City and operates in more than 42 countries with over 1300 offices globally and over 60000 employees. This company has a usual increase in its AUM by about 15% annually. They started their operations in 1935.

• Bank Services

Morgan Stanley Investment bank was announced in the year 2008. And they have taken over several companies since then. Its business is divided into three units: institutional securities group, wealth management, and investment management.

• Office culture

They consider their employees their assets. One of the best companies globally for working mothers rates the working mother's magazine. And have more than 60000 employees globally.

• Strength/weakness

Their presence in the market for approximately 80 years is magnificent. Their employees are considered to be their strength. Although they have gone through several legal controversies like customer miss guidance.

AllianceBernstein L.P., A global asset management company, based in New York, USA, is a subsidiary company of a famous French insurance company, AXA. Originated from its founder Sanford C. Bernstein in 1967, whereas Alliance was founded in 1971, the acquisition of Sanford C. Bernstein in 2000 gave this company the captioned name.

• Bank Services

AllianceBernstein L.P. focuses on high net worth individuals; they also provide independent research portfolio strategy and brokerage services to corporate clients. They have a vast range of products for institutional clients. However, AXA holds about 62.7% of the company's economic interest.

• Office culture

They have its offices in 46 locations in about 22 countries. Their employees focus on and strive to work hard on a proud tradition of integrity to develop trust and financial success for their clients.

• Strengths/weakness

It plans its investment management with tradition and integrity. This organization has a great history of equity management.

The organization does not focus on retail clients at all.

Incorporated in Zurich, UBS is a Swiss global financial company. They provide wealth management, asset management, and investment banking to individual, corporate and institutional clients globally. The origin of this company has been traced to 1856, which makes it a very old company. The Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, which is about 9.7 billion, makes it the bank's largest shareholder.

• Bank Services

UBS investment bank provides security covers, other financial products, derivatives, precious metals, credits, foreign exchange, etc., to several institutional and non-institutional clients. It is one of the top fee-generating investment banks globally.

• Office culture

UBS is spread worldwide, with about 5,250 employees in more than 35 countries. Its principal offices are Zurich, New York, London, Hong Kong, Sidney, Singapore, and Tokyo.

• Strengths/weakness

UBS is one of the oldest investment banks, with several employees spread worldwide. Most of their employees are hired after graduation with a 70% permanent employment option.

This company is a part of the Nomura Group, Japanese financial (Parent Company) Holding Company. Nomura acquired most of Lehman Brothers Asian operations along with equities and the investment banking units of European nations. It makes Nomura Holdings one of its largest independent investment banks, with approximately £138 billion in assets. Nomura operates in about 18 stock exchanges.

• Bank Services

Nomura successfully provides services such as cross-divisional and cross-regional relationships, which have successfully raised global funds, M&A advisory, related acquisition investment, and a wide choice of other financial services, plus solutions related to foreign exchange and interest rate.

• Office culture/career

Nomura considers its employees as its greatest assets. It is located in America, Asia-Pacific, India, and Japan, in two languages that are English and Japanese, and in Europe.

• Strengths/weakness

Nomura has more than 20 core member companies in the world of finance. It has an old structure as it originated in 1925.

This company still has to cover the world, including the Australian and the Canadian market.

This article has been a Guide to Equity Research Firms. Here we discuss the list of top 10 Equity Research Firms and their bank services, office culture, strengths & weaknesses. You may also have a look at the following articles –

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