CAZENOVE has lost its first FTSE 100 broking client since completing a joint-venture agreement with JP Morgan, the US investment bank.

ITV, Britain’s biggest independent television broadcaster, dropped Cazenove after reviewing its corporate broking team in the wake of the Granada and Carlton merger that created ITV. It is also dropping CSFB, but is retaining Citigroup, Hoare Govett and UBS.

The move will be seen as a blow to Cazenove, broker to nearly half the companies in the FTSE 100.

Rivals have been trying to poach clients from Cazenove after its deal with JP Morgan. They claim that the deal means that the firm now has significant conflicts of interest. It is the first time that Cazenove has lost a FTSE 100 company since HSBC dropped it in favour of Goldman Sachs.

ITV has been reviewing its corporate brokers for some time, and chose to drop one firm that came to it via Carlton and one that came via Granada.

Being given up by ITV is a further blow for CSFB, which has been dropped as a broker by BSkyB, National Grid Transco and P&O, recently. The bank has 14 broking clients, but recently AstraZeneca, the drugs group, said that it was reviewing its brokers, which include Merrill Lynch and CSFB.

A banking source said that many other leading UK companies were reviewing their broking relationships. Trinity Mirror, for instance, hired Cazenove and Morgan Stanley earlier this year.

Rivals claim that the partnership between JP Morgan and Cazenove may be doomed, given the possible clash of cultures between the Wall Street giant and the blue-blooded British firm. They also claim that Cazenove has lost its selling point — independence.

Firms trying to develop in corporate broking include Morgan Stanley, which earlier this year poached a team of brokers from Merrill Lynch. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein is also trying to grow in corporate broking.

Cazenove struck a joint- venture deal with JP Morgan after abandoning plans to float. JP Morgan paid £100 million and contributed about 70 staff in the deal. By this arrangement, which ended 181 years of independence for “Caz”, £340 million of capital was released to its partners and past partners. Cazenove contributed 750 staff to the joint venture.