Amid a plunge in equity issuance and a decline in both debt underwriting and merger & acquisition activity, global investment banking fees are down sharply this year, according to data from Refinitiv.
Through the first nine months of 2022, investment banking fees were down by 32% compared with the same period last year to US$83.1 billion, the firm said.
Fees dropped by 16% in the third quarter from the second quarter, Refinitiv noted, marking the slowest quarter since Q4 2016.
Equity underwriting fees were particularly weak in the first nine months, down by 67% year over year, with debt underwriting fees down by 28% and M&A fees down by 19%, Refinitiv reported.
The collective market share for the top five global firms also fell by 5.9 percentage points to 25%.
JP Morgan continued to top the overall league tables, followed by Goldman Sachs and BofA Securities. Morgan Stanley and Citi ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.
RBC Capital Markets held onto 12th place in the global rankings, remaining the top-performing Canadian investment bank. BMO Capital Markets ranked 23rd, down from 20th last year.