Last month, the top executives of an independent investment bank gathered in Miami. It was the first meeting of Jefferies since the first hit of the pandemic. The title of the talk was Around the World. Murray Wilson together with Raphael Bejarano, Asia bank president and co-head of global investment banking were the presenters. Jefferies delivers a global strategic business model that was less successful in Europe before. In recent years, Jefferies have transplanted a first-class securities trading business and advisory offering.
The presentation is quite successful for Jefferies has offered a model that could be well-applied in Asian market as well. But critics disagreed. It has been years for Jeffrey that has made huge investments in Asia. 2019 was the bank’s hit year. It dislocated CLSA by hiring dozens of top bankers and analysts. Jefferies also picked off numbers of top executives at Deutsche Bank, Barclays and many more.
According to Refinitiv data, Jefferies runs in Asia ranking 45th last year for equity capital markets volumes with first-class securties. The bank ranks at 31st for M&A advisory. In North America, the bank ranks at seventh and 12th. Then in Europe, due to the global financial crisis affecting much on investment, the bank plunged from 48th to 7th from 2008 to last year. Then, it raised to 18th from 39th in M&A.
Meanwhile, many critics are cautious about Jefferies model. It is because the model makes sense in the U.S. but it is less suitable for Europe. In other words, it would be challenging in Asia. In Asia, the margin is too thin. Plus, investors are not too willing to pay for top-notch insights. Thus, due to this nature analysis, it is harder to apply and achieve economic scale in Asia.
