Morgan Stanley was named the number one provider of credit derivative index products for the second year in a row in Risk Magazine’s 2004 annual survey of asset managers. End users also voted Morgan Stanley the second best credit derivatives house overall.

The U.K.-based Risk is the preeminent publication covering derivatives markets, reaching more than 80,000 financial professionals around the world. The magazine surveyed nearly 400 asset managers for its end-users poll, asking them to nominate their top three dealers in interest rate, foreign exchange, equity and credit derivatives. Participants based their votes on pricing, speed of transaction and the provision of liquidity.

The top three dealers in credit derivatives — Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank — continued to dominate the rankings, garnering 53 percent of the votes from asset managers.

“We have continued to solidify our position as a market leader despite the increased focus of our competition,” said Managing Director Michael Pohly, global head of structured credit trading. “The gap between the top tier and everyone else continues to be very wide.”

The strong showing in the end-users poll follows Morgan Stanley’s clean sweep of all the major fixed-income derivatives awards in Risk’s 2003 year-end review. In an unprecedented decision, Risk named Morgan Stanley Derivatives House of the Year, Interest-Rate Derivatives House of the Year and Credit Derivatives House of the Year.