Global investment banking fees drop in Q1

Amid a decline in global merger and acquisition activity and a slump in capital markets, investment bankers’ revenues tumbled in the first quarter too, according to data from Refinitiv.

The firm reported that global investment banking fees dropped by 22% in the first quarter, marking the weakest quarter since 2018, and slowest opening quarter since 2016.

Fees from completed M&A deals were down by 37%, leading the decline in bankers’ revenues, while capital markets underwriting fees were down 15%.

Both equity and debt underwriting fees fell by an estimated 11%, Refinitiv reported, but syndicated lending was hit harder, with fees from that activity dropping by 24%.

While the overall fee pie contracted in the first quarter, the top 10 banks increased their share of that pie by about 2.4 percentage points to 37.4%, Refinitiv said.

JP Morgan held on to the top spot in the overall rankings, and it increased its market share by 0.3 points to 6.9%. However, second place Goldman Sachs saw its share decline slightly, down 0.1 points to an estimated 6.0% global share.

BofA Securities ranked third, with Morgan Stanley and Barclays holding down the final two spots in the top five.

RBC Capital Markets was the top ranked Canadian firm, jumping into 10th place overall from 15th place in 2022. TD Securities Inc. also climbed to 20th place from 26th, and BMO Capital Markets ranked 23rd.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.