A pair of bank-owned investment dealers — TD Securities Inc. and RBC Capital Markets — share top spot in the latest dealer rankings for the Canadian fixed-income market from industry research firm Greenwich Associates.
In a new report, the firm says that its latest investor survey finds that TDSI and RBC rank as the overall leaders in fixed-income market share, followed by BMO Capital Markets, CIBC World Markets and Scotiabank.
“TD and RBC continue to sail ahead at the top of the market,” said Peter Kane, Greenwich Associates consultant. “They both pulled out all the stops last year in terms of sales and service quality, and they are now reaping the rewards with increased market share and investor loyalty.”
Greenwich notes that the Canadian market was also marked by a surge in trading of investment-grade credits last year.
“An extended period of low interest rates caused investors to add risk to their portfolios in a hunt for needed returns. With interest rates rising from historically low levels, for most of 2018, markets saw credit spreads tighten and demand intensify,” the firm said.
“That search for yield, combined with an uptick in market volatility in Q4, helped fuel a 40% increase in the secondary trading volume of investment-grade credit in Canada for the twelve months ending in the spring of this year,” it added.
The rise in trading for investment-grade credits was led by TDSI, RBC and BMO, Greenwich reported.
“Beside the three leaders, kudos to CIBC for their performance, which resulted in gains in both service quality and market share across credit,” Kane said.
Greenwich also reported that BMO ranked as its leader in Canadian fixed-income research.