Announcing 2014 Share and Quality Leaders in Canadian Fixed Income 

It's official: The Canadian Big Six are now the Big Seven. Desjardins Capital Markets has joined RBC Capital Markets, TD Securities, BMO Capital Markets, Scotiabank, CIBC, and National Bank Financial to gain entry into the country’s exclusive top tier of dealers.

For the past several years, the results of Greenwich Associates annual Canadian Fixed-Income Study have shown Desjardins Capital Markets increasing its footprint in rates beyond its Quebec base and maintaining a hard-fought market share battle while leading competitors lost ground.

As Desjardins builds market share, a number of foreign banks are moving in the opposite direction. Driven largely by the impact of new regulations, capital requirements and low volatility, several global firms are scaling back their Toronto-based fixed-income sales force and servicing clients back in New York.

“It’s a continuous cycle: If someone catches a cold in New York or London, they pull out of Canada,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Peter Kane. “Capital requirements, personnel costs and low volatility have exacerbated the situation. Deployment of capital, overhead costs and fierce local competition are a continual management balancing act, and for the global banks, the best returns are often found outside Canada.”

Trading Volumes Flat, E-Trading Gains
The results of the 2014 Canadian Fixed-Income Investors Study show total fixed-income trading volume (including interest rate derivatives, structured credit derivatives and excluding money markets), decreased by approximately 7% in the past year. Meanwhile, electronic trading continued to build momentum. Total volume executed over electronic systems — mainly through the CanDeal platform — increased 20% from 2013 to 2014, and electronically executed transactions now account for 48% of all Canadian fixed-income trading volume, up from 44% in 2013.

Greenwich Share and Quality Leaders
RBC Capital Markets maintained its commanding lead in Canadian fixed-income trading this year with a market share of 16.7%. TD Securities (13.2%) and Scotiabank (12.3%) are statistically tied for second, followed by BMO Capital Markets at 11.4% and Desjardins at 9.0%. These firms are the 2014 Greenwich Share Leaders in Canadian Fixed-Income Market Share.

RBC Capital Markets also claims the title of the 2014 Greenwich Quality Leader in Canadian Fixed-Income Sales and Trading while sharing this title with BMO Capital Markets in Canadian Fixed-Income Research.