Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and UBS had cause to celebrate their performance in European capital markets and investment banking in the tumultuous past year as the credit crunch took hold, according to final annual rankings published today by research company Thomson Financial.

Deutsche retained top spot among bond underwriters, fending off the challenge of Barclays Capital and Citigroup as it did in 2006 as the top debt houses weathered the first annual fall in global debt issuance since 2000.