Alexander Batchvarov & team
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
In second place for a second year running is Alexander Batchvarov’s five-member team at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The London-based strategists are upbeat about the year ahead: “Technicals remain extremely strong,” Batchvarov says, “and we are beginning to see public acknowledgement by politicians” of the need for recovery in the securitization market. One example: the recent letter from the European Commission to the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, the European Union’s insurance regulator, questioning whether the capital requirement for certain securitizations is excessive. The squad anticipates an uptick in issuance and believes that regional structured securities are a better value than their U.S. counterparts, with senior and upper-mezzanine collateralized loan obligations and commercial mortgage-backed securities being especially attractive, he says. Also recommended: the upper-mezzanine and mezzanine tranches of residential MBS. One portfolio manager in Madrid applauds the researchers’ “overall market analysis and the depth of coverage.” — Carolyn Koo