Investment banking

Firms including Banco Santander and Toronto-Dominion Bank's U.S. investment banking arms have been adding to their convertible bond teams, anticipating that companies refinancing existing debt will be drawn to the asset class in the next several years.

The big China deals that lined rainmakers' pockets for decades have evaporated. Banks and law firms alike are cutting jobs. Those advisers that remain are chasing smaller deals and taking extended vacations.

Wells Fargo makes a $1.5 million investment in Black entrepreneurship; America Express promotes small businesses through augmented reality; shareholders approve the Banc of California-PacWest merger; and more in the weekly banking news roundup.

There's a reason why successful bankers with long careers look back on their time spent as vice presidents as among the best of their working years.

Amid a deal drought that has dragged on for more than a year, Wells Fargo is cutting 40 to 50 jobs in its corporate and investment bank division, say people with knowledge of the decision.  

Regulators are looking into practices within JPMorgan's securities arm and investigating parts of its trading operations, according to a regulatory filing by America's largest bank.

As Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing doubles down to lower expenses and increase profitability, a new round of cuts is expected to exceed the 800 announced in April.

Net income was $2.06 billion in the third quarter, down 33% from a year earlier, amid sluggish banking activity, real estate write-downs and questions about whether dealmaking will rebound.

After Archegos' collapse, Nomura had lost almost $3 billion, one of the biggest losses in the history of the prime-broker industry that caters to investment funds.

The cuts are said to be part of a plan to trim headcount by about 300 people — or 3% of overall jobs — across the corporate and investment bank.

It's a challenge Japan's largest lender must overcome as it focuses on growing its corporate banking presence in the US, said Fumitaka Nakahama, the firm's head of global corporate and investment banking. 

Mergers and acquisitions are rebounding and equity capital markets are thawing, says C.S. Venkatakrishnan. That's a welcome forecast after a persistent slump sapped investment banking revenue across the industry. 

Apollo Global Management, Pagaya Technologies and Sixth Street are said to be working on final offers for Goldman Sachs Group's consumer-lending unit.

The New York megabank is considering splitting its institutional clients group division into three parts following the upcoming departure of top executive Paco Ybarra, the Financial Times reported. The heads of the three segments would report directly to CEO Jane Fraser.

Median noninterest income at midsize banks rose 7.2% in the second quarter, exceeding expectations. Dallas-based Texas Capital stood out from the pack, reporting a large uptick in fee income thanks largely to its new investment banking platform.

Bank of America's second-quarter profit soared after its core Wall Street businesses exceeded analysts' expectations.

The U.K. entrepreneur died from a rare form of bone cancer, with which he was diagnosed at the start of 2020.

Tom Drake is joining Wells from Barclays as a managing director in its mergers-and-acquisitions group focusing on health care services and medical-technology deals. Chris Norman, most recently at Citigroup, is joining as a managing director in M&A focusing on technology in San Francisco.

Citigroup executive Jay Collins says the company is "absolutely interested" in arranging new deals in the market for debt-for-nature swaps, which allow countries to restructure their debt in exchange for promises to protect the environment.

UBS Group AG poached nearly a dozen of the firm's top technology bankers, while others have left for Pickering Energy Partners and Jefferies Financial Group Inc.