Investment banks in 2Q18, part 1: group and CIB

First, a graph. There will be lots of these.

In summary, PBT growth driven by lower costs more than by higher revenues, those costs proving harder to cut in CIB divisions than elsewhere, DCM sort of flat, advisory up a bit, ECM looking great, FICC having a shocker and equities building nicely. 

Now for the breakdown – and the usual disclaimers. Numbers are unadjusted wherever possible. Banks’ percentage change figures reflect reporting currency; aggregate changes reflect US dollars. Not all banks report in the same way, or even at all in certain areas (particularly for advisory, ECM and DCM). 

Part 2 of our analysis covers DCM, ECM and Advisory. Part 3 on Thursday will look at FICC and Equities.

Biggest fall: Bank of America Merill Lynch (-1%)

TTM: UP 2%
Biggest rise: HSBC (18%)

Biggest fall: Deutsche Bank (-9%)

It didn’t quite match the first quarter of the year, but 2Q18 otherwise saw the highest revenues for our band of 12 since 2015, as the total rose 6% year-on-year to $151 billion.