Surging debt issuance leads the way, with lending, M&A up too.

Amid robust debt issuance and rising syndicated loan activity, global investment banking fees are up 10% so far this year, according to new data from LSEG Data & Analytics.

Through the first nine months of the year, total banking fees came in at US$85.3 billion, which was the strongest total for the period since 2021.

Debt underwriting fees were up 25% compared with the same period last year, syndicated lending fees rose 9%, and merger-and-acquisition fees edged up by 3%, LSEG said.

Equities underwriting was the weak spot, with fees declining by 5% year over year.

In the third quarter, overall investment banking fees were down 17% from the second quarter, LSEG noted.

The financial sector was the leading driver of revenues, accounting for 35% of total fees, as the sector’s fees increased by 19% from last year.

The industrials and the energy and power sectors ranked second and third, as fees from these sectors rose 5% and 6%, respectively, from last year. Conversely, fees generated by the materials sector were down 10%.

JPMorgan led the global league tables with an 8.0% share of total fees, which was up 0.9 percentage points from 2023. Goldman Sachs ranked second with an estimated 6.1% of global share, followed by BofA Securities. Morgan Stanley and Citi rounded out the top five.