Barclays and Houlihan Lokey were the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the financial services sector during the first half (H1) of 2026 by value and volume, respectively, according to the latest financial advisers league table by GlobalData, which ranks financial advisers by the value and volume of M&A deals on which they advised.

Based on its Financial Deals Database, the leading intelligence and productivity platform has revealed that Barclays achieved the leading position in terms of value by advising on $37.3 billion worth of deals. Meanwhile, Houlihan Lokey led in terms of volume by advising on a total of 28 deals.

Aurojyoti Bose, Lead Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Houlihan Lokey was the top adviser by volume in H1 2025 and retained its leadership position by this metric in H1 2026, despite a marginal drop in the total number of deals advised by it.

“Meanwhile, the total value of deals advised by Barclays increased by 17.2% year-on-year in H1 2026. Resultantly, its ranking in the value chart improved from fifth position in H1 2025 to the top position in H1 2026. Half of the total number of deals advised by Barclays in H1 2026 were billion-dollar deals*, which also included two mega deals valued more than $10 billion. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped Barclays register improvement in value as well as its ranking by this metric.”

An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that UBS occupied the second position in terms of value, by advising on $33.4 billion worth of deals, followed by Goldman Sachs with $32.8 billion, Morgan Stanley with $30.9 billion, and JPMorgan with $27.3 billion.

Meanwhile, Piper Sandler occupied the second position in terms of volume with 26 deals, followed by Stifel/KBW with 20 deals, Goldman Sachs with 17 deals, and Raymond James Financial with 17 deals.

*Deals valued more than or equal to $1 billion