JP Morgan emerged as the top financial adviser for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by both value and volume in the financial services sector for Q1 2021, having advised on 22 deals worth US$37.5bn. A total of 908 M&A deals were announced during Q1 2021, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Global and Financial Services M&A Report Financial Adviser League Tables Q1 2021’, deal value decreased by 16.7% from US$174bn in Q1 2020 to US$145bn in Q1 2021.

Ravi Tokala, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Despite a jump in volume, value for the financial services sector dropped by around 16.7% in Q1 2021 as compared with the same quarter last year, which can be mainly attributed to the absence of megadeals (valued more than US$10bn) in the sector.

“JP Morgan held the top position in terms of both value and volume due to its involvement in seven billion-dollar deals (deals worth greater than or equal to US$1bn). The average deal size of transactions advised by JP Morgan stood at US$1.7bn.”

Lazard occupied the second position by value with six deals worth US$29.5bn, followed by Barclays with 10 deals worth US$17.6bn and Citi with 10 deals worth US$14.4bn.

Goldman Sachs occupied the second position by volume with 20 deals worth US$12.9bn, followed by Piper Sandler with 15 deals worth US$2.8bn and Keefe Bruyette & Woods with 14 deals worth US$10.7bn.