Investment Banking Industry Statistics 2026: Revenue, Megadeals, and the APAC Surge

Global mergers and acquisitions hit $5.1 trillion in 2025, a 42.5% jump from 2024 and the second-highest annual haul on record, with a record 70 megadeals of more than $10 billion driving the bulk of the volume. The fee pool reached a milestone, too: global investment banking fees crossed $100 billion in 2025 as activity rebounded from the post-pandemic deal drought. The pattern carrying into 2026 is concentration, not breadth.

Key Takeaways

• Global M&A volume reached $5.1 trillion in 2025, up 42.5% year over year.
• Goldman Sachs led the M&A league table with $1.66 trillion in volume and 40 megadeals at a 36.4% market share.
• Asia-Pacific investment banking fees totaled $24.9 billion in 2025, a 19% year-over-year increase representing 18% of global fees.
• Global IPO proceeds rose to $171.8 billion across 1,293 deals in 2025, a 39% increase in proceeds on broadly unchanged volumes.
• FINRA-registered representatives reached 634,508 at year-end 2024, serving 2,840 broker-dealer-only firms.
• Q1 2026 megadeal activity set a record with 22 transactions above $10 billion in a single quarter.
• Cross-border M&A surged 47% year over year to $454.7 billion in Q1 2026, the highest first-quarter level since 2002.

Editor’s Choice

• Total global M&A volume in 2025: $5.1 trillion.
• Goldman Sachs 2025 mergers and acquisitions volume: $1.66 trillion across 515 deals.
• JPMorgan 2025 mergers and acquisitions volume: $1.44 trillion, up 44.2% year over year.
• Morgan Stanley 2025 mergers and acquisitions volume: $1.17 trillion, up 32.8% year over year.
• Citic Securities 2025 Asia-Pacific IB fees: $1.45 billion at a 5.8% market share.
• 2025 global IPO proceeds: $171.8 billion across 1,293 deals.
• US 2024 long-term fixed income issuance: $10.4 trillion, up 26.0% year over year.

Recent Developments

• April 2026: JPMorgan reported $2.88 billion in Q1 2026 investment banking fees, up 28% year over year, with total quarterly revenue at $23.4 billion.
• April 2026: Goldman Sachs posted Q1 2026 revenue up 14% to $17.23 billion, with investment banking fees up 48%.
• Q1 2026: Global M&A transactions exceeded $1.2 trillion as deal value rose 26% even as deal count fell 17% year over year.
• Q1 2026: SpaceX’s $250 billion acquisition of X.AI accounted for nearly 30% of total deal value this quarter.
• March 2025: Morgan Stanley announced cuts of approximately 3% of its workforce, equivalent to about 2,500 employees across investment banking, trading, wealth management, and investment management.
• 2025 cycle: Bank of America eliminated 150 junior banker jobs in its investment bank as part of its annual performance review.

Global Investment Banking Revenue Snapshot

• Global investment banking fees crossed $100 billion in 2025, the first time since the 2021 deal-making boom.
• Americas captured 55% of global investment banking fees in 2025.
• Europe accounted for 21% of global fees in 2025.
• Asia-Pacific represented 18% of global fees, on revenue of $24.9 billion.
• JPMorgan emerged as the top-paid global investment bank overall with Q1 2026 IB fees of $2.88 billion, a 28% year-over-year increase.
• 2025 equity capital markets volumes and revenues hit their highest level since 2021, up 26% in total deal value year over year when measured by Q1 2026 carry-through.
• US broker-dealer industry gross revenues grew 5.9% to $641.0 billion in 2024, per SIFMA’s Capital Markets Fact Book, a backdrop reflected in retail investing statistics tracking individual trading-app adoption.

Source: London Stock Exchange Group, reported via Caproasia and SCMP

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Global M&A Advisory League Table

• Goldman Sachs topped the 2025 league table with $1.66 trillion in volume and 40 megadeals.
• Goldman’s market share reached 36.4% of global M&A volume in 2025.
• JPMorgan took second with $1.44 trillion in volume, up 44.2% year over year.
• Morgan Stanley held third place at $1.17 trillion with 24 megadeals.
• Goldman’s volume growth of 38.9% year-over-year broadly matched the 42.5% global M&A growth rate.
• PwC kept the No.1 advisory spot by deal count with 660 deals, down from 770 in 2024.
• The top three banks (Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley) combined for $4.27 trillion in M&A volume.

Source: Mergermarket FY25 financial advisor rankings, ION Analytics

By the numbers: Per Mergermarket, the top three M&A advisors of 2025 (Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley) collectively booked $4.27 trillion in deal volume out of the $5.1 trillion global total, an 84% concentration on three advisors that marks the steepest top-three share since the post-2008 consolidation wave.

Global IPO and ECM Statistics

• 2025 global IPO proceeds reached $171.8 billion across 1,293 deals.
• Proceeds rose 39% year over year on broadly unchanged deal volumes.
• PwC’s parallel methodology recorded $143.3 billion in 2025 proceeds, up 21% from $118.1 billion in 2024.
• US IPO proceeds totaled about $45.5 billion, the largest of any country globally in 2025.
• US IPO deal count rose 27% year over year, and proceeds rose 38%.
• Q4 2025 alone recorded 381 deals, the strongest quarter since Q4 2022, with proceeds of $60 billion.
• Private equity-backed IPOs reached $62.1 billion in proceeds, accounting for 36% of global IPO fundraising across 103 deals.
• The 2024 US IPO deal value tracked by SIFMA stood at $31.4 billion, up 55.9% year over year.

Source: PwC Global IPO Watch 2025, EY Global IPO Trends, SIFMA Capital Markets Fact Book

Debt Capital Markets and Syndicated Loans

• US long-term fixed income issuance jumped to $10.4 trillion in 2024, up 26.0% year over year.
• US equity issuance excluding SPACs hit $222.9 billion in 2024, up 60.9%.
• U.S. fixed-income markets account for 40% of worldwide securities outstanding.
• Liquid US financial assets totaled $72.3 trillion in 2024.
• US retirement assets reached $49.6 trillion in 2024.
• The widening gap between equity issuance growth (+60.9%) and the IPO sub-segment growth (+55.9%) signals that secondary offerings carried most of the new-issuance weight in 2024.

Asia-Pacific Investment Banking Fees

• Total APAC investment banking fees reached $24.9 billion in 2025, up 19% year over year.
• APAC commanded 18% of total global investment banking fees in 2025.
• Citic Securities led APAC ex-Japan with $1.45 billion in fees, capturing 5.8% of the regional fee pool.
• Citic’s fees rose 29% year over year with a 0.4 percentage point market share gain.
• Citic also dominated APAC bond underwriting at 6% market share with proceeds of approximately $299 billion.
• The top six APAC ex-Japan banks for 2025 were Citic Securities, China Securities, Bank of China, China International Capital, Guotai Haitong Securities, and Morgan Stanley.
• Morgan Stanley placed sixth in APAC ex-Japan investment banking fees in 2025, the only non-Chinese bank in the regional top six.

Source: London Stock Exchange Group APAC fee report 2025, via SCMP and Caproasia

Key finding: Per LSEG data, Chinese investment banks took five of the six top spots in Asia-Pacific ex-Japan investment banking fees for 2025. Citic Securities alone outearned Morgan Stanley in regional revenue, capturing 5.8% of a fee pool the LSEG values at roughly $25 billion, a structural rebalance from the early-2020s Western dominance.

US Capital Markets Footprint

• US equity markets represent nearly half of global market capitalization.
• U.S. fixed-income markets account for 40% of worldwide securities outstanding.
• US 2024 IPO deal value: $31.4 billion.
• US 2024 broker-dealer gross revenues: $641.0 billion, up 5.9% year over year.
• US liquid financial assets: $72.3 trillion in 2024.
• US retirement assets: $49.6 trillion in 2024.
• A US capital markets system that holds nearly half of the global equity market cap on roughly 4% of the world’s population is the structural backdrop for every investment banking league table.

FINRA-Registered Broker-Dealer Industry

• FINRA-registered representatives reached 634,508 at year-end 2024, up from 628,361 in 2023.
• Broker-dealer-only firms numbered 2,840 in 2024, down from 2,867 in 2023.
• All FINRA-registered broker-dealer firms totaled 3,249 in 2024, down from 3,298 in 2023.
• Total securities-industry registered individuals reached 723,731 in 2024, including 89,223 investment-adviser-only representatives and 323,039 dual-registered representatives.
• Broker-dealer-only firms have fallen from 3,303 in 2015 to 2,840 in 2024.
• The broker-dealer-only firm count has contracted by roughly 14% over the past decade.
• Dual broker-dealer and investment adviser firms fell to 409 in 2024 from 431 in 2023.

Q1 2026 Megadeal Surge

• Global M&A in Q1 2026 exceeded a record $1.2 trillion.
• Q1 2026 deal count fell 17% year over year while deal value rose 26%.
• A record 22 megadeals above $10 billion closed in Q1 2026, the highest count in any single quarter on record.
• Cross-border M&A surged 47% year over year to $454.7 billion, the strongest first quarter since 2002.
• SpaceX’s $250 billion acquisition of X.AI accounted for nearly 30% of total Q1 deal value.
• The United States was the most-targeted nation, accounting for 52.4% of cross-border transactions in Q1 2026.
• The United Kingdom followed with 11.5% of cross-border M&A targeting in Q1 2026.

Source: LSEG Deals Intelligence Q1 2026

Investment Banking Workforce and Layoffs

• Morgan Stanley announced cuts of approximately 3% of its workforce, equivalent to about 2,500 employees across investment banking, trading, wealth management, and investment management.
• Goldman Sachs planned cuts amounting to approximately 3% to 5% of its workforce in 2025.
• Goldman’s headcount at the end of 2024 was 46,500, the baseline for the cuts.
• Bank of America eliminated 150 junior banker jobs in its investment bank as part of its annual performance review.
• Wall Street layoffs rose 145% in March 2025 compared to the same month last year.
• Goldman’s 3-5% cut implies roughly 1,860 positions removed at the firm’s 2024 baseline.
• Headcount compression alongside record fee growth is a margin-recovery signal; banks are extracting more revenue per banker after the 2021 hiring overhang.

Top Banks by Q1 2026 Earnings

• JPMorgan reported Q1 2026 investment banking fees of $2.88 billion, up 28% year over year, with total quarterly revenue of $23.4 billion.
• Goldman Sachs reported Q1 2026 revenue up 14% to $17.23 billion, with investment banking fees up 48%.
• Goldman posted record equities trading revenue for the first quarter, propelling the firm to its second-highest quarterly revenue ever.
• Goldman beat EPS estimates by 7% with Q1 2026 EPS of $17.55.

Sector Distribution of IPO Proceeds

• Financials led 2025 IPO proceeds at $42.3 billion globally,
• Americas accounted for $31.3 billion of financial IPOs in 2025.
• Asia-Pacific contributed $8.0 billion of financial IPOs.
• US SPAC IPOs represented 50% of IPO proceeds in the financial sectors globally.
• Information Technology raised about $19.6 billion in 2025 IPO proceeds.
• Consumer Discretionary and Industrials raised approximately $18.8 billion and $18.1 billion, respectively.
• The sector mix in 2025 was unusually balanced, with five sectors raising more than $18 billion each and Financials leading.

Hong Kong, China, and the APAC IPO Wave

• Asia-Pacific was the largest region globally by 2025 IPO proceeds at $61.6 billion.
• APAC IPO proceeds rose 24% compared to 2024.
• EY’s parallel methodology recorded an even larger 106% surge in APAC proceeds compared with 2024.
• India was the most active APAC market, raising $18.3 billion in 2025 IPO proceeds across 367 IPOs and $22.9 billion of total proceeds on the EY count.
• Hong Kong raised $12.4 billion in 2025 IPO proceeds.
• Shanghai contributed $12.2 billion in IPO proceeds.
• India, Hong Kong, and Shanghai together raised about $42.9 billion in IPO proceeds in 2025, roughly 70% of APAC’s total.

Source: PwC Global IPO Watch 2025, EY Global IPO Trends

Why it matters: Hong Kong’s $12.4 billion in IPO proceeds combined with Shanghai’s $12.2 billion gave Greater China an outsized share of 2025 listings, a reversal from the post-2021 listings drought. The pipeline into 2026 includes the broader ESG and Decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure firms that bypassed the New York route during the trade-tension years.

Cross-Border Deals and Megadeal Concentration

• Cross-border M&A volume hit $454.7 billion in Q1 2026, a 47% year-over-year jump.
• Q1 2026 cross-border activity was the highest first-quarter level since 2002.
• The 22-megadeal count in Q1 2026 marked the highest single-quarter total on record.
• The United States was the most-targeted destination at 52.4% of cross-border deal flow.
• The United Kingdom followed at 11.5% of cross-border deal flow, reflecting London’s continued role as a deal hub even as crypto exchange market data shows trading volume gravitating toward US-domiciled venues.
• SpaceX’s $250 billion acquisition of X.AI was the single largest Q1 2026 transaction.
• The cross-border concentration in US and UK targets reflects venture capital exit pipelines; many of the Q1 2026 megadeals consumed assets that started as VC-backed unicorns over the previous five years.

Common Questions

How big is the global investment banking industry?

Global investment banking fees crossed $100 billion in 2025, while total M&A volume reached $5.1 trillion. The US holds nearly half of the global equity market capitalization, anchoring the industry’s revenue concentration in North America.

Which bank leads investment banking in 2025?

Goldman Sachs led M&A advisory with $1.66 trillion in volume and 40 megadeals. JPMorgan emerged as the top-paid firm overall, posting $2.88 billion in Q1 2026 IB fees, up 28% year over year. Morgan Stanley placed third in M&A volume at $1.17 trillion.

How many people work in investment banking and broker-dealer firms?

FINRA counts 634,508 registered representatives at year-end 2024, serving 2,840 broker-dealer-only firms. Including investment-adviser-only registrants, total securities-industry registered individuals reached 723,731 in 2024.

Why are investment banks cutting staff while revenue grows?

Major banks are correcting from the 2021 hiring boom. Morgan Stanley announced cuts of about 2,500 employees, roughly 3% of its workforce, while Goldman planned approximately 3% to 5% reductions. The fee pool grew alongside the cuts, signaling margin recovery through automation and post-boom rationalization.

Conclusion

The 2025 investment banking story is one of size over breadth. $5.1 trillion in global M&A volume paired with a record 70 megadeals concentrated revenue at the top three advisors, while the $171.8 billion IPO pool rebuilt the equity-issuance pipeline that had stalled since 2022. The Asia-Pacific shift, $24.9 billion in regional fees, and Citic Securities ahead of Morgan Stanley, flagged a structural rebalance in the global fee map.

The Q1 2026 carry-through extended both threads. 22 megadeals above $10 billion in a single quarter, $454.7 billion in cross-border activity, and JPMorgan’s 28% investment banking fee growth suggest the megadeal cycle is intensifying. With 2,840 broker-dealer firms now serving the US market, down from 3,303 a decade ago, the structural concentration favors the bulge-bracket banks that captured the 2025 league tables.