Soc Gen named best European sustainability research house for 2009: full Thomson Extel rankings

UBS in second place, French peer Cheuvreux in third spot.

by Hugh Wheelan | June 18th, 2009

French bank Société Générale (SG) has been named as the leading overall pan-European brokerage firm for SRI & sustainability research for the second year running in the 2009 Thomson Reuters Extel Survey. Swiss bank UBS took second place. France’s Cheuvreux, part of the Crédit Agricole group, was voted third.
The broker rankings for the sub categories that make up the SRI/sustainability section were as follows:
Governance: 1. Oddo, 2. SG, 3. Cheuvreux.
SRI: 1. SG, 2. Cheuvreux, 3. Goldman Sachs.
Renewables: 1. UBS, 2. SG, 3. Cheuvreux.
Long-term Thematic Research: 1. SG 2. UBS, 3. Goldman Sachs
Thomson Reuters says Extel currently has 175 SRI/Sustainable analysts, across 67 brokerage firms/research providers that cover European equity markets, including the UK. They estimate a net 32 analysts have left this area over the last year. Cuts in total analyst numbers, not just SRI, are estimated to be down by 10-15% over the year as a result of the financial crisis. Responsible Investor revealed that Citi had trimmed its SRI team at the end of 2008 and focused its sustainability research on climate change issues, retaining analyst Meg Brown, and was named 6th best SRI broker this year. In a flurry of SRI analyst cutbacks at the end of 2008, RI also reported that Deutsche Bank had cut its corporate governance research to focus on environmental themes, while SRI teams were cut at JP Morgan and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. However, banks including HSBC have been hiring sustainability analysts in the last year. The Thomson Reuters Extel Survey, which is considered an industry benchmark in European buy-side and sell-side developments, represents the views of over 300 investment professionals from 19 countries.
The full SRI and sustainability list is: 1 Société Générale
2 UBS
3 Cheuvreux
4 Goldman Sachs
5 Oddo Securities
6 Citi Investment Research
7 HSBC
8 Macquarie Equities
9 Banc of America Securities – Merrill Lynch
10 CM-CIC Securities (ESN)
11 CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets
12 Natixis
13 WestLB
14 Barclays Capital
15 Jefferies International
16 Commerzbank Corporates & Markets
17 Exane BNP Paribas
18 Credit Suisse Securities
19 Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc.
19 Morgan Stanley
21 Ardour Capital Investments
22 Deutsche Bank
23 J.P. Morgan
24 Noble Group
25 GMI Ratings