The Times - Martin Waller :

The rise in the market since the start of the year — the FTSE 100 has risen by 4 per cent thus far, so it has recovered more than two thirds of last year's losses — has not been accompanied by any increase in the volume of shares traded, as one might have expected. Plainly, while brokers are marking shares higher, no one thinks the rally is going to be maintained, and there is every chance that in due course we will be back where we started.Numis Corporation, one of our more successful middle-ranking brokers, told the market yesterday that the performance to date, since the start of the new financial year in October, was in line with the same period of the previous year, with revenues and market share marginally ahead. The broker has added new corporate clients in each of the past 13 quarters and is second to, if a long way behind, the market leader, JPMorgan Cazenove, in the number of companies on its books. That trading update is, with respect, not saying much. Those takeovers in the sector — Investec buying Evolution, with others still going through — must have taken capacity out of the market, to the advantage of the survivors. I suspect that in two or three years we will have about half a dozen brokers serving the mid-cap market, and Numis, with almost £50 million in cash in the bank, will be one of them. But those two or three years will be tough — just like the past two or three. 

Bloomberg - London Brokers ‘Throw in the Towel’ as Debt Crisis Hits Revenue:

London’s stockbrokers are shrinking as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis and competition from international firms squeezes revenue and fees.click here for the full article

City AM - Troubled RBS loses Amlin brokership :

RBS HOARE Govett, the broking arm of RBS, shed another key client yesterday when insurer Amlin said it had switched advisers. Amlin, the biggest Lloyd's of London insurer by market value, announced it had appointed Morgan Stanley and Numis Securities as its new joint brokers - replacing RBS Hoare Govett which had previously been its sole adviser. Over the weekend it was revealed that RBS is considering selling or closing its broking business as part of a scale down of its equities operations, and this latest loss of a FTSE 250 mandate could be a further blow to its future. An Amlin spokesman declined to comment on a reason for the switch yesterday.