Investment banking’s dog days are not yet over. Revenues have remained on a downward trajectory, with the first half of 2019 seeing the lowest results in more than a decade, according to the most recent Coalition IB Index. The index tracks the revenue streams of the 12 largest investment banks globally: Bank of America, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale and UBS.
Overall, global investment banking revenues dropped by 11% in the first half of 2019 compared with the same period in 2018. All three divisions – fixed income, currencies and commodity (FICC), equities and investment banking divisions – experienced a fall in revenue. FICC, which remains the most significant revenue generator for the big investment banks, contracted by 9%, while equities and investment banking divisions declined by 17% and 8%, respectively.
