Sector: Profit Masters

Profit masters

This note provides a brief, high-level snapshot of how pre-tax profits of Top 13 investment banks evolved vis-à-vis peers since the original ‘Crunch’. Product- and/or regional-level detail is available on request.

Highlights:

• The two banks that most improved their share of the peer group profit pool are J.P.Morgan and UBS. Uniquely among its peers, JPM improved its ranking vis-à-vis peers in all three major areas of business: primary issuance & advisory, FICC and Equities sales & trading. UBS performed strongly in primary activities, and has upped its share of Equities profit pool by 50% since 2011.
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch was knocked off the #1 spot and has been losing ground in recent years, especially in FICC. Similarly, Deutsche Bank‘s decline is largely due to underperformance in FICC.
• Goldman Sachs lost some ground in recent years; it appears to be struggling in the low-risk/client-centric environment.