By Anjuli Davies
LONDON, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Global investment banking feesfell 8 percent in 2015 compared to a year earlier, with a boomin mergers and acquisition activity failing to offset a slump inequity and debt capital markets fees, Thomson Reuters datapublished on Tuesday showed.
Global fees for services ranging from merger andacquisitions advisory to capital markets underwriting totalled$86.9 billion in 2015, the lowest annual figure since 2013.
Regionally, fees in Europe declined 16 percent compared witha year ago, Asia Pacific fees fell 12 percent and fees from theAmericas were down by a more modest 3 percent.
One bright spot was mergers and acquisitions (M&A), wherefees from completed activity rose 8 percent year-on-year, asworldwide M&A in 2015 rose 42 percent to $4.7 trillion, thestrongest year for deal making on record.
Investment banking income was dragged down by a 13 percentdecline in equity capital markets fees compared to a year ago,and an 18 percent decline in debt capital markets fees as globalmarkets were hit by volatility sparked by global growth worries,geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a China slowdown.
JPMorgan topped the global league table for fees,drawing in $5.98 billion during the year, down 7.5 percentcompared to a year ago, but maintaining 6.9 percent of theoverall wallet share.
The top five banks were all American, with Goldman Sachs the only one in the top five to increase its fees intakefor the year, up 6.9 percent to $5.94 billion.
Europe's biggest investment banks continued to lose marketshare, with Deutsche Bank, ranked sixth, seeing a 20percent year-on-year decline in fees to total $3.45 billion, ora 0.6 percent decline in the wallet share.
Credit Suisse saw a 13.9 percent decline in feesto $3.32 billion and Barclays a 11.2 percent decline to$3.29 billion.
(Reporting By Anjuli Davies)