Analysts at a handful of top investment banks have topped a closely-watched ranking of European research providers, as competition for top-ranked employees has heated up in the wake of EU regulations that revolutionised the sector in 2018.

The rankings from Institutional Investor, often called the ‘City Oscars’, awarded joint overall first position in developed-Europe research to UBS and Exane BNP Paribas. But in the league tables of individual analysts, released late on 11 August, it was analysts from Citi and Exane that triumphed.