During the third-quarter earnings season, one particular term seemed to dominate the conversation among the leaders of major financial institutions—a single word that encapsulated their cautiously renewed optimism: “pipeline.” In the specialized lexicon of Wall Street, this expression refers to the reservoir or backlog of prospective deals that investment banks have been meticulously structuring and preparing to introduce to the capital markets. From the colossal merger advisors and deal-making juggernauts of Goldman Sachs to the equity-underwriting specialists at Morgan Stanley, corporate leaders appeared eager not only to stress that their pipelines were active but to assure investors that, after years of inertia and uncertainty, deal flow was beginning to accelerate once again.
Across the nation’s five largest banks, the most recent financial disclosures revealed a sweeping improvement that spanned every major area of investment banking activity—advisory, equity underwriting, and debt issuance. For the first time in years, momentum was simultaneously present in all three pillars of the business, suggesting an industry-wide revitalization rather than isolated bursts of performance. At JPMorgan Chase, Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum conveyed a tone of confidence as he addressed shareholders, describing the bank’s deal pipeline as both strong and dynamic. He reflected that this past summer ranked among the busiest in recent memory, particularly in terms of transaction announcements, and noted that these activities were now feeding through into acquisition financing, a development aided by a more favorable interest rate landscape. Similarly, Bank of America’s Alastair Borthwick noted that deal flow had risen sharply—by double-digit percentages over the quarter—prompting the executive to declare that the firm felt “very good about the pipeline.” He further remarked that the climate for mergers appeared constructive, with the prevailing market conditions supporting corporate appetite for strategic consolidation.
Such optimism extended to other corners of Wall Street. Morgan Stanley’s CEO Ted Pick echoed the buoyant mood, though he acknowledged the unpredictability inherent in financial cycles. Reflecting on the current resurgence, he remarked that while time would ultimately tell whether the sector was entering what he termed a “golden age” of investment banking, the narrative of incremental recovery—once limited to scattered talk of “green shoots”—had now matured into genuine momentum, with the “flywheel” of deal activity truly beginning to spin.
Viewed collectively, the sentiments emanating from executive suites suggested a cautiously confident consensus about the near-term outlook across the triad of investment banking domains: mergers and acquisitions, public equity issuance, and corporate lending. Each of these arenas appeared to be regaining vitality after a prolonged lull. At Goldman Sachs, quarterly performance underscored the firm’s resurgence, as it recorded its third-highest net revenues in history—a milestone underscoring the weight of renewed client engagement. CEO David Solomon told investors that Goldman had already advised on over one trillion dollars in announced M&A volume for 2025 to date, indicating the resurgence of high-value transactions. He further highlighted the immense reserves of undeployed capital held by private equity firms—exceeding one trillion dollars in “dry powder”—which, when coupled with improving macroeconomic conditions, led Goldman to regard the present setup as distinctly favorable for continued dealmaking.
Citigroup’s chief executive Jane Fraser adopted a similarly forward-looking stance, confirming that her institution aimed to close the fiscal year with significant momentum heading into 2026. Under the leadership of Viswas Raghavan—an accomplished dealmaker who previously held senior roles at JPMorgan—the bank’s investment banking unit posted impressive gains, with revenue climbing seventeen percent sequentially and twenty-three percent annually, reaching $1.15 billion. Such growth reinforced the perception that the long-anticipated revival of corporate transaction activity was no longer merely theoretical but increasingly tangible across leading franchises.
Parallel signs of recovery were also visible in the equity capital markets, which, after years of subdued issuance, exhibited unmistakable signs of revival. Morgan Stanley reported that its equity underwriting revenues had surged eighty percent compared with the same period a year earlier—growth fueled by what executives described as a “record-breaking post–Labor Day issuance window,” a traditional period of renewed capital-raising following the summer slowdown. Citigroup likewise reported a thirty-five percent increase in equity underwriting activity, while Bank of America disclosed that its equity fees had climbed thirty-four percent to reach $362 million. Across the sector, executives drew attention to an expanding queue of companies preparing for initial public offerings that stretched well into 2026, as firms positioned themselves to reenter the public markets after years of delay.
Yet this promising resurgence was not without potential obstacles. Industry leaders cautioned that lingering political dysfunction in Washington—specifically the ongoing government shutdown entering its third week—posed a credible threat to the pace of new listings. The paralysis had curtailed normal operations within several federal agencies, most notably the Securities and Exchange Commission, whose role in reviewing and approving IPO filings is indispensable. A prolonged shutdown could therefore temper the momentum now building within equity markets and push some issuers to postpone planned debuts.
The bond markets and corporate lending divisions mirrored the same invigorated pattern. At Citigroup, corporate lending revenues rose thirty-nine percent, helping to buoy overall investment banking earnings, while fees tied to debt underwriting advanced nineteen percent. Bank of America posted even stronger results in this domain, with debt underwriting income soaring forty-two percent to $1.1 billion. This expansion in credit-related business illustrated how improved sentiment in capital markets was spilling across to the financing side, generating stronger balance sheet utilization by corporate clients and increasing fee volumes for banks.
Taken together, the robust earnings across advisory, equity, and debt verticals signaled a broader recovery in the business of corporate finance. Chris Connors, a principal at the compensation advisory firm Johnson Associates, observed that such results would likely translate into lucrative year-end compensation packages for bankers. He predicted that bonuses were set to rise across the industry, particularly for advisory professionals, given both the strength of backlogs and the prevailing sense of optimism that additional transactions would close before year-end. Connors summarized the prevailing sentiment succinctly: clients appear more assured of the long-term economic outlook and increasingly confident that pending deals would materialize in the fourth quarter. In short, the evidence suggests that Wall Street’s once-dormant dealmaking machinery is now stirring back to life, powered by refreshed confidence, deep liquidity reserves, and a sense that the financial landscape has once again turned in favor of those who trade in opportunity.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-morgan-stanley-jpmorgan-citi-bofa-dealmaking-pipelines-2025-10
