Deutsche Bank is making a comeback in investment banking in Germany. According to the latest league tables from data provider Dealogic, no other bank in Germany earned more in investment banking in the first half of the year than Deutsche Bank. The Frankfurt-based bank earned 161 million dollars, 50 million dollars more than its US competitor, Goldman Sachs.

J.P. Morgan landed in third place with 79 million dollars, followed by the two other US banks, Bank of America and Citigroup, which earned 61 million and 58 million dollars, respectively. The top five in the German investment banking sector was thus once again dominated by the large US banks, which together earned 353 million dollars – even though last year's leader, Morgan Stanley, slipped from first to eighth place with revenues of 44 million dollars in the first half of the year.

The top 10 is completed by Italian bank Unicredit (52 million dollars), Commerzbank (44 million dollars) and Barclays of the UK with 43 million dollars in revenues. Dealogic puts the total revenue pool in German investment banking at around 1.4 billion dollars. After years in the doldrums, the advisory business for mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and capital market issues is picking up speed again.

According to Dealogic, revenues in investment banking in Europe increased by 19% year-on-year to 10.8 billion dollars in the first half of the year. Europe thus accounted for around a quarter of global bank revenues in investment banking. Only in North America was the growth rate higher, at 29% to 23.3 billion dollars. At around 55%, North America has by far the largest share of the global revenue pool.

The Asian market, on the other hand, is causing concern. In North Asia, income fell by 30% to 3.1 billion US dollars. In Southeast Asia, they fell by 22% to 0.4 billion US dollars and in Australasia, by 1% to 0.9 billion US dollars. Revenue growth in the region was only recorded in the Japanese market, where the revenue pool grew by 19% to 1.6 billion US dollars.

Although in Germany Deutsche Bank has regained first place in the investment banking rankings, globally it is the US banks who continue to be the measure of all things. According to Dealogic, J.P. Morgan earned around 3.9 billion dollars in the first half of the year. Goldman Sachs followed it with around 3 billion dollars. Then came Bank of America (2.6 billion), Morgan Stanley (2.4 billion) and Citi (1.9 billion).

The first non-American investment bank in the global rankings is the Barclays, with revenues of around 1.5 billion dollars. Deutsche Bank landed in seventh place worldwide in the first half of the year with around 1.1 billion dollars, just ahead of Jefferies and Wells Fargo. In the global equity capital markets (ECM) business, i.e. advice on IPOs and capital increases, J.P. Morgan was the most successful in the first half of the year. According to Dealogic, the bank took in the most fees with 744 million dollars. It was followed by Goldman Sachs with 617 million dollars and Morgan Stanley with 576 million dollars.

The same top 3 feature in the global M&A advisory business, with J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs (around 1.4 billion dollars each) at the top, followed by Morgan Stanley with 960 million dollars. Deutsche Bank does not appear in the top 10 in either the global ECM or M&A rankings. J.P. Morgan also dominated the debt capital markets (DCM) business, where banks advise companies on bond issues, for example. J.P. Morgan generated proceeds of over 697 million euros here, leaving Bank of America (593 million) and Citi (585 million) behind. Deutsche Bank took sixth place with 368 million dollars.