Kings Of The Markets - Top 30 Firms

It was a just over a year ago when we first published our comprehensive list of 'in vogue' firms. This list was published in the midst of job and financial losses, asset writedowns and concerns over compensation.

Well, 12 months on, and the financial landscape has changed again. So we thought that we'd have another look at the Top 30.

The following list is based on our current estimates on the following:

1. Job security

2. Job satisfaction / staff morale

3. Financial performance

4. Financial strength

5. Compensation

6. Reliance (or otherwise) on state aid

Interestingly, last year's No 1 & 2 (BlackRock and Barclays Global Investors) came together in a $13.5bn deal announced last week:

Here's the Top 30 (last year's ranking in brackets)

1(1). BlackRock (inc BGI)

2(58). PIMCO

3(31). Goldman Sachs

4(108). JPMorgan

5(51). Deutsche Bank

6(6). Nomura

7(20). Barclays Capital

8(111). Morgan Stanley

9(17). Royal Bank of Canada

10(77). Credit Suisse

11(22). Standard Bank

12(65).Wells Fargo

13(98). Standard Chartered

14(75). Houlihan Lokey

15(5). Macquarie

16(106 / 112). Bank of America / Merrill Lynch

17(4). Renaissance Technologies

18(56). ICAP

19(60). Man Group

20(72). Northern Trust

21(96). Aberdeen Asset Management

22(9). BNP Paribas

23(102). Bank of New York Mellon

24(12). State Street

25(63). Barclays Wealth

26(82). Jefferies & Co

27(49). Citadel Investments

28(35). Lazard

29(11). Societe Generale

30(15). Schroders

Firms falling out of the Top 30 include:

Och-Ziff Capital Management, KBC Group, Apollo Capital Partners, Fortis & Rabobank