The top tier banks are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan & Morgan Stanley, except for here
What is a top tier investment bank, and do you work for one? Maybe you don't care, but if broad judgements of prestige are important to you, the chart below will be important too.
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If you want to work for a bank that is big and thriving in advisory (M&A) this year, you will want to work for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan or Morgan Stanley.
If you want to work for a bank that is big and thriving in equities trading this year, you will want to work for Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan or Morgan Stanley.
The same applies if you want to work in equity capital markets (ECM), although it's worth noting Morgan Stanley's ECM bankers floundered in the third quarter and Citi's were on fire.
Beyond M&A, ECM and equities sales and trading, though, the waters are muddied.
Citi's fixed income trading business is second only to JPMorgan's and was the only one to grow revenues year-on-year in Q3. BofA's DCM business is second only to JPMorgan's.
The charts obfuscate discrepancies by traded product, region, and banking sector. At this very highest global level, though, only one bank is in the top two for four out of five business areas.
That bank is JPMorgan. It only needs to try harder in equities.
| Business area (US$m) | Goldman Sachs | JPMorgan | Morgan Stanley | Citi | Bank of America |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advisory | $1,654 (+18%) | $1,222 (+32%) | $887 (+30%) | $406 (-4%) | $471 (-19%) |
| Equity capital markets | $666 (+43%) | $564 (+7%) | $525 (-19%) | $343 (+77%) | $395 (+9%) |
| Debt capital markets | $904 (+15%) | $1,219 (+4%) | $747 (-3%) | $601 (-3%) | $958 (-14%) |
| FICC trading | $3,471 (-1%) | $5,366 (-4%) | $2,011 (-7%) | $4,386 (+4%) | $2,548 (-17%) |
| Equities trading | $6,441 (+72%) | $4,954 (+49%) | $5,799 (+41%) | $1,727 (+14%) | $2,507 (+10%) |
| Business area (US$m) | Goldman Sachs | JPMorgan | Morgan Stanley | Citi | Bank of America |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advisory | $4,526 (+34%) | $3,500 (+42%) | $2,663 (+52%) | $1,301 (+3%) | $1,582 (+22%) |
| Equity capital markets | $2,186 (+73%) | $1,865 (+42%) | $1,772 (+20%) | $1,026 (+86%) | $1,283 (+33%) |
| Debt capital markets | $2,747 (+29%) | $3,800 (+5%) | $2,277 (+15%) | $1,897 (+17%) | $3,057 (+6%) |
| FICC trading | $12,074 (+6%) | $18,497 (+8%) | $7,824 (+13%) | $14,258 (+8%) | $9,580 (-2%) |
| Equities trading | $19,183 (+57%) | $15,460 (+49%) | $17,247 (+44%) | $6,108 (+33%) | $8,954 (+36%) |
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