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Investment banking - statistics & facts

Investment banks provide important services for companies, governments, and other institutions, with the purpose of acting as a mediator between the parties included. Most of the largest investment banks globally, also known as “bulge bracket banks”, are full-service banks, providing a wider range of services to clients in addition to underwriting and advisory services, such as sales and trading, research, and asset management services. The investment bankers are compensated for their services through fees, which can take various forms depending on the agreement, but is usually made up by a cash fee paid when the deal has been completed, a fixed monthly fee, a success fee as a share of the deal value, or a combination of these fee types.

What is investment banking?

The main functions of investment banks are providing advisory services for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and underwriting companies entering an initial public offering (IPO). investment banks may perform both functions when working with SPAC companies performing an IPO. When serving as the underwriter, the investment bank functions as the mediator between the investors and the company in the process. When working as an advisor for M&As, the investment bank functions as a mediator between the companies concerned by the acquisition. An IPO, however, does not necessarily need to have only one underwriter: When Saudi Arabian oil company Saudi Aramco had their IPO in 2019 – which is to this day the largest IPO worldwide – a long list of many of the world’s largest investment banks were involved.

Which is the largest investment bank?

There are many ways to rank the largest investment banks: by fees, by revenue market share, by number of deals, and by underwriter value. Mainly the same top ten investment banks worldwide appear in all rankings, but the order varies depending on which measure is being observed. JPMorgan, for example, is the largest investment bank in terms of fees and revenue, while EF Hutton is the largest underwriter of special purchase acquisition company (SPAC) IPOs and number of SPAC deals. Meanwhile, Credit Suisse was the underwriter of the largest IPO in the United States so far -Alibaba Group Holding in September 2014 - while in terms of deal value, Goldman Sachs is the largest financial advisor to M&A transactions.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Sep 23, 2022

Key insights

Value of global investment banking fees
80.54tr USD
Largest investment bank worldwide
JPMorgan
Value of investment banking fees of JPMorgan
6.9bn USD
Get more insights

Editor’s Picks Current statistics on this topic

Leading banks worldwide in 2022, by revenue from investment banking (in million U.S. dollars)

Banks

Largest banks globally 2022, by revenue from investment banking

Leading financial advisors to merger and acquisition (M&A) deals worldwide from 2019 to 2022, by number of deals

M&A & Private Equity

Number of M&A deals advised by leading investment banks worldwide 2019-2022

Size of the workforce in the investment banking sector worldwide from Q1 2015 to Q1 2020 (in 1,000s)

Banks

Size of the workforce in the investment banking sector worldwide 2015-2020

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Initial public offerings (IPOs) in the United States
Initial public offerings (IPOs) in the United States
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Europe
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in Europe
Commercial banks in the United States
Commercial banks in the United States
Initial public offerings (IPOs) in Europe
Initial public offerings (IPOs) in Europe
European banking sector
European banking sector
Initial public offerings (IPO) of Chinese companies
Initial public offerings (IPO) of Chinese companies
Global mergers and acquisitions
Global mergers and acquisitions
Mergers & acquisitions in China
Mergers & acquisitions in China
Mergers & acquisitions in the United States
Mergers & acquisitions in the United States
Banking industry in the United States
Banking industry in the United States
SPACs
SPACs
Initial public offerings (IPOs) globally
Initial public offerings (IPOs) globally

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