Investment banking is a movable feast. The key is being first to the buffet. The industry enjoyed an unprecedented boom during the easy money years of the past decade, only to see its fortunes fall sharply in the crisis. Surprisingly, considering the fact that excess leverage caused the crisis, revenues in debt capital markets, or DCM, have bounced back strongly, although they remain a bit below the 2006–’07 peak. Equity capital markets, or ECM, have recovered smartly, too, but M&A fees are running at the lowest rate in years, and loans have sunk to near oblivion.
And notwithstanding the supposed collapse of the U.S. investment banking model, this is one industry that remains very much made in America. The top five fee earners were all U.S.-based, led by JPMorgan. European rivals lag well behind the leaders, although the two Swiss banks and Deutsche are nipping at the heels of Citi and Morgan Stanley.
