Bank of America closing the gap with JPMorgan in Asia deals race

[NEW YORK] Bank of America is catching up to its biggest rival, JPMorgan Chase & Co, in investment banking in Asia-Pacific as a three-year rebuild of the business with a focus on winning big deals starts paying off.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank has closed a "significant gap" to the third-ranked JPMorgan in fees generated in Asia Pacific, placing right behind it, Peter Guenthardt, the firm's co-head of investment banking in the region, said in an interview.

"We're pretty much neck-and-neck," he said, declining to give specific details.

The moves in Asia align with a global ambition outlined by Matthew Koder, head of global corporate and investment banking, to become top three in industry rankings for every sector, region and product.

In the second quarter, the bank earned a record US$2.1 billion in investment banking fees, the third-highest globally.

Investment banking now contributes about 15 per cent to Bank of America's overall business in Asia, doubling from three years ago, according to people familiar with the details, who asked not to be named discussing internal matters.

That comes at a time when dealmaking is booming while low interest rates put pressure on other areas of banking.

Mr Guenthardt said the bank has "significantly" increased the number of "outsized fee events," including working on initial public offerings in Hong Kong for Baidu and Kuaishou Technology.

Its Asia-Pacific investment-banking revenue has grown to about US$700 million, according to the people familiar. The division's headcount in the region reached about 300 after it recruited more than 70 bankers this year, including recent graduates, the people said.

Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley each have more than US$1 billion in revenue, excluding Japan, the people said.

Mr Guenthardt declined to comment on the hiring. The bank didn't break out divisional numbers for Asia. Spokespeople at JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley all declined to comment.

REVENUE GROWTH

Gains in deal-making has put Bank of America less than US$20 million away from JPMorgan, which is in third place for the year in the region behind Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, a spokesman for the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said, citing data from Dealogic. That narrows the gap from a couple of hundred million dollars three years ago, the spokesperson said.

In one key metric, equity underwriting, the bank now ranks fifth among international banks in Asia Pacific, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It's one spot ahead of JPMorgan, which has dropped from third last year.

Still, Bank of America is among foreign banks facing headwinds from a regulatory crackdown in China's technology sector.

With more Chinese firms halting their US listing plans amid worsening relations with the world's biggest economy, the bank is eyeing tech listings in South-east Asia and India, and focusing more on health-care and consumer deals in China, Mr Guenthardt said.

"The non-China market will benefit from the fact that you have a lot of global investors looking for alternatives and investing in Asia growth," he said. "At the moment, it's very difficult for them to invest in US-listed Chinese tech names."

Mr Guenthardt, who used to head South-east Asia and Singapore for the bank, was brought in by Mr Koder to run the region's advisory business in 2019 with Alex To, a former top dealmaker at Morgan Stanley. The lender also moved veteran bankers Matt Basler and Craig Coben to Hong Kong in August last year as co-heads of capital markets for Asia-Pacific.

Winning business in Asia is important since more than half the region's clients are first-time fee payers, driven by a surge in the number of highly valued startup unicorns going public. Repeat clients are concentrated in Japan and Australia, Mr Guenthardt said.

Mr Guenthardt has recently hired six managing directors across Asia, including ex-JPMorgan banker Winnie Ng, who is co-head of Asia real estate and head of Hong Kong coverage. Aayush Jhunjunwala came on board from Citigroup Inc. to take on a new role for technology coverage in South-east Asia. Kevin Yang, was hired from China Merchants Securities (HK) to focus on China deals.

RISK ON

The bank lags behind most peers in one significant aspect - it doesn't have a securities operation in mainland China. Most Wall Street banks are pushing to beef up their operations in China as the nation opens its US$54 trillion financial market fully to foreign brokerages and asset managers.

Meanwhile, Bank of America has been slowly casting off some of the risk minimisation that it had carried as a legacy from the 2008 financial crisis. While frequently repeating a mantra of "responsible growth," chief executive officer Brian Moynihan said in 2018 that the investment-banking division had got a "a little too careful."

The advisory business share of its overall revenue is smaller than its Wall Street rivals because its corporate banking and treasury services has made up a big chunk of its income.

Mr Guenthardt said the global push is enabling it to continue committing resources to build its franchise in Asia.

"The good thing is that it is easy to have that conversation with New York because the strategy is globally aligned," he said.

BLOOMBERG