THIRD TEAM

Rupak Ghose & team Credit Suisse

Credit Suisse, which spent the past three years in the runner-up position, climbs one notch to No. 3. Rupak Ghose, leader of the two-analyst team, “has a lot of knowledge about the developments in the sector and made some strong calls last year,” recalls one buy-side supporter. The team upgraded London-based Icap, the world’s largest interdealer broker, from neutral to outperform last February, at 294p, after a profit warning from management had sent the shares plummeting 19.5 percent in one day; the analysts believed the market was being too pessimistic on Icap given the potential for strong volume growth in the volatile economic environment. In November — after the stock had rocketed 66.1 percent, to 488.40p, and bested the sector by 53 percentage points — they downgraded it to hold, on valuation. The downgrade was a bit premature, however; Icap shares rose an additional 9.5 percent, to 535p, through December.