Surging M&A fees save Q1 for US banks

摘要

US banks pulled a rabbit out of their collective hat just in time for Easter, beating expectations for a lousy quarter in investment banking on the strength of buoyant advisory work for mergers and acquisitions. While trading and underwriting were largely disappointing in the quarter, revenue from M&A advisory hit US$2.7bn, up 18% from a year ago across GOLDMAN SACHS, CITIGROUP, JP MORGAN, BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH and MORGAN STANLEY. That included a weak performance at Morgan Stanley, which was the only bank of the big five to report a fall.