Continuing the weak trend of 2022, 1H’23 witnessed marginal increase in deal activities in the backdrop of heightened fears of a recession, persistent high inflation, restrictive policies of major central banks and US debt ceiling standoff. Going forward, market outlook is expected to be relatively better due to pent-up M&A demand and a strong pipeline, however the macro environment remains uncertain which is not conducive for deal making.

In our detailed H1’23 review of the global investment banking industry, we have discussed the M&A, ECM, and DCM markets, along with the performance of bulge bracket investment banks.