With operations in more than 30 countries worldwide, a well-established franchise and a top-five ranking, Bank of America (BofA) is already in the top handful of bulge-bracket banks operating in the European equity capital markets (ECM) space. The winner of best investment bank in Western Europe in the 2024 Euromoney Awards for Excellence, BofA Securities ranked fifth on Dealogic’s league tables in terms of European-listed ECM volumes last year, with a deal value of just over US$7.4 billion across 39 deals. But it wants more.
Matthew Koder, who took over as global head of corporate and investment banking in 2019, has been vocal about his ambitions for BofA to be top-three in every product, sector and geography in which the investment bank operates. On taking over the top spot from previous IB head Christian Meissner, Koder was heralded as the catalyst that could rekindle the firm’s investment banking ambitions.
In Europe, the bank has made a determined push to compete in the equities space, and in 2022 took the number-three spot for the first time in a decade, joining the likes of Citi, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Barclays in vying for the highly coveted third position behind JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.
