When Bank of America-Merrill Lynch hired Alexander Wilmot-Sitwell from UBS last year to front its Europe and emerging markets (excluding Asia) operations, it caused a stir. As he explains to The Banker, the move has been mutually beneficial.

UBS undertook one of the more radical post-crisis changes of strategy in 2012, and its head of European advisory, James Hartop, explains how the new structure enables his team to move beyond pure merger and acquisition work.

JPMorgan has sought to maintain hard-won expertise even during the near closure of European equity capital markets in late 2011 and early 2012. Its regional co-head of equity capital markets explains how continuity has set it up well to capture a nascent revival of new issues.

A wealth of opportunities are opening up in Latin American debt capital markets, but Itaú BBA’s head of investment banking is keen to ensure that the bank does not neglect its still-lucrative domestic market while chasing these opportunities.

Bringing vanilla investment banking products to emerging markets has proved a highly successful formula for Standard Chartered, and the model needs only modest refinement to cope with new regulations, according to its wholesale banking chief.

A strategic alliance in equities with a brokerage firm and the massive strengthening of the balance sheet have helped put UniCredit's corporate and investment bank ahead of the pack, according to deputy chief executive Olivier Khayat.

The eurozone is now on the mend, according to BNP Paribas’ Frederic Janbon, but the new regulatory landscape will continue to change the debt business, bringing opportunities as well as challenges.

Heavier capital requirements and tighter funding conditions for European universal banks have increased the importance of debt capital markets rather than bank loans for European companies. Morgan Stanley's co-head of global fixed-income markets is working to make sure the bank can seize the opportunity.

After an unprecedented wave of deleveraging and reorganisation, Royal Bank of Scotland’s head of markets and international banking for Europe, Middle East and Africa says the bank’s strategy for the future is now taking shape.