JPMorgan has emerged as the top global investment bank in the first half of 2025, leading both overall investment banking revenue and capital markets revenue rankings.
The US’s largest lender by assets — and fifth-largest worldwide — generated $4.1bn in global investment banking fees and $2.7bn in capital markets revenue, according to Dealogic data published on Wednesday. It ranked second in global financial sponsor revenue with $865mn, trailing only Goldman Sachs which posted $993mn in sponsor-related fees.
Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup followed in third, fourth and fifth, respectively, by global investment banking revenue, according to Dealogic.
Banks saw stronger fee momentum across capital markets, half-year data shows.
Global investment banking revenue rose 3 per cent year on year to $45.7bn, with North Asia — which includes China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea — posting the sharpest growth at a rate of 28 per cent, followed by the Middle East and Africa region at 15 per cent.
North America’s investment banking revenue grew by 4 per cent while in contrast, Australasia and Japan saw no growth and Europe’s declined by 7 per cent.
US investment banks benefited from a late-year rebound in dealmaking underpinned by economic optimism following Donald Trump’s return to the presidency in November, with profits continuing to surge in the first quarter of the year.
This US banking trend came through strongly in The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks ranking this year.
Barclays, the highest ranked UK bank in sixth globally, earned $1.6bn in investment banking revenues with strong performance in financial sponsor revenues.
Morgan Stanley and BofA also posted strong sponsor-related investment banking revenues, ranking third and fifth with $599mn and $542mn respectively, while Jefferies, Citi and Deutsche Bank all exceeded $300mn in fees from financial sponsors.
Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas both remained competitive across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific markets, generating $1.03bn and $961mn in global investment banking revenue, respectively.
BNP Paribas led in France and performed well out of European-headquartered banks operating in the Central and eastern Europe, and Middle East and Africa regions, ranking second to HSBC.
China’s CITIC Securities was the top bank by domestic investment banking revenue in China, while Nomura, Mizuho and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation retained their lead in Japan.
It follows the jump in Japanese banks’ profits last year, as reflected in The Banker’s Top 1000 ranking.
JPMorgan led international investment banking revenue in the Asia-Pacific region, followed by UBS, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
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