Reuters
JPMorgan has grabbed as much as $40 billions in assets from Deutsche Bank's hedge fund unit.
- Following Deutsche Bank's industry-rattling equities exit this summer, top Wall Street competitors have been feasting on the firm's most-coveted
prime brokerage assets. - JPMorgan is emerging as an early victor, raking in as much as $40 billion in new assets from top-tier hedge funds including Renaissance Technologies and D.E. Shaw, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Other top banks have also grabbed billions in assets from Deutsche's clients, and only roughly $75 billion out of the firm's nearly $200 billion in balances still remain, sources say.
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As the debris clears from Deutsche Bank's shocking retreat from equities earlier this summer, JPMorgan is emerging as an early victor.
A who's-who list of Wall Street investment banks have picked up billions in client balances following the German lender's wind-down of its once-lauded prime brokerage business, a unit that provides services like lending and trading securities to hedge funds.
But JPMorgan so far has grabbed the most market share of Deutsche Bank's prime assets, according to people familiar with the matter. The bank has raked in $40 billion in new assets from top-tier hedge funds including Renaissance Technologies and D.E. Shaw, one of the people said, while another said the total wasn't quite that high.
In a business already notorious for thin spreads, sources say JPMorgan has been pricing its prime brokerage offering competitively and angling to add more scale. Ranked second to Morgan Stanley last year, according to Coalition data, JPMorgan has picked up share this year, one of the people said.
A JPMorgan spokeswoman declined to comment. Spokesmen for Renaissance and D.E. Shaw also declined to comment.
JPMorgan isn't the only firm that's benefiting. Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citigroup have all acquired billions from jettisoned Deutsche Bank balances as well, sources say. Barclays, thought to be an early winner, now looks to rank behind JPMorgan. It acquired roughly $20 billion in prime brokerage assets, CEO Jes Staley said in August on an earnings call with analysts.
"It's part of the markets business where you earn revenue on Saturdays and Sundays and holidays. So it's quite a business," Staley said on that call. "And also, it reinforces the important relationships you have with principal actors in the capital markets. It is very profitable, and we will continue to pursue that business."
French bank BNP Paribas reached a preliminary agreement to acquire Deutsche Bank's prime brokerage technology, platform, and hundreds of staff, though it's unclear yet how much actual client business it will convince to move over.
The banks each declined to comment.
Hedge funds typically have a handful of prime-brokerage providers, so many of the firms transferring assets away from Deutsche Bank have a smooth transition to already well-established relationships.
Deutsche Bank for years was known for having one of the strongest platforms for serving hedge funds, especially quant-focused shops. In addition to Renaissance and D.E. Shaw, AQR and Two Sigma were also top clients but have recently shifted business to other banks, according to people familiar with the matter.
But as with the firm overall, the division's fortunes declined in recent years, with revenues falling by a third since 2015, according to a Bloomberg report from March.
Rather than regroup for yet another effort to stanch the bleeding within its investment bank, the German lender opted instead for more drastic measures: A radical $8.3 billion restructuring that included abandoning the equities business and slashing 18,000 employees by 2022.
Around $75 billion of Deutsche Bank's nearly $200 billion in balances still remain, sources say.
Prime services produced $18.3 billion in revenue in 2018 among Wall Street's top banks, according to industry data consultant Coalition.
Morgan Stanley has consistently ranked first in that business line, followed by JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.
Deutsche Bank didn't crack the top-7, according to Coalition.