At last we have a genuine scrap for dominance as Seymour Pierce's lead is whittled down to its narrowest since November 2007, the month it snatched leadership of this table from UBS Investment Bank by a single client.

Seymour Pierce's total is composed entirely of AIM clients and it has held up well despite the shrinkage of numbers on the junior market over the past couple of years. In contrast, the challenger is J.P. Morgan Cazenove, which fails to make the top 20 on AIM but which is at or near the top of rankings across the entire main board.

J.P. Morgan Cazenove has been creeping up almost unnoticed. From 13th place with 66 clients in August 2007 it has added to its tally in six of the past eight Rankings Guides to reach a total of 89, up no fewer than eight in the latest quarter and just three short of Seymour Pierce.

A gain of four clients edges Arbuthnot Securities up to third place ahead of Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking and Investec in that order while Rothschild has moved into the reckoning with six gains overall and an improvement from ninth to sixth. Cenkos, now eighth, has also made six gains and Evolution has added two clients.

Figures as at 3 August 2009 and information in brackets from 5 May 2009.