WASHINGTON: JP Morgan retained its place atop the global investment banking league table last year, with the top five places now firmly in the hands of U.S. banks, reflecting their domination over struggling European peers, data on Wednesday showed. JP Morgan’s revenues from trading, mergers and acquisitions and other investment banking activity rose 11 percent to $25.2 billion last year from $22.7 billion in 2015, according to industry analytics firm Coalition. That strong increase was mirrored by U.S. peer Citi, which rose in the overall ranking to joint second from joint third, a performance that far exceeded the average 3 percent decline across the 12 banks surveyed.
JP Morgan retained its crown in fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) trading, its position solidified by dominance in G10 rates and foreign exchange trading. JP Morgan held the top two spots in all but one – municipal finance – of the seven FICC categories, Coalition said. Morgan Stanley secured fifth place in the ranking by consolidating its leadership position in equities, meaning all top five spots are held byU.S. banks. In 2015 Morgan Stanley shared fifth spot with Germany’s Deutsche Bank. U.S. banks now take in around a two-thirds share of the investment banking revenue pie, the gap widening consistently since 2011 when the U.S.-European split was roughly 50-50. But that may be about to reverse.
