Bank of America (BoA) and Piper Sandler have emerged as the top mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the financial services sector for 2023, excelling in deal value and volume, respectively, as per GlobalData’s latest financial advisers league table.   

The deals database of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, indicates that Bank of America secured the top spot by advising on deals worth $28.4bn. 

In terms of volume, Piper Sandler was at the top of the chart by advising on a total of 30 deals. 

GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “Although Bank of America managed to lead by value, it faced close competition from Barclays, which missed the top spot by a whisker. During 2023, Bank of America advised on six billion-dollar deals that also included one mega deal valued more than $10bn. Apart from leading by value, Bank of America also occupied the ninth position by volume in the year. 

“Meanwhile, Piper Sandler managed to retain its leadership position by volume in 2023 from the previous year. However, it faced close competition from Rothschild & Co for the top spot.” 

Barclays claimed the second position in deal value, advising on transactions amounting to $28.3bn. It was followed by  

Jefferies with $23.1bn worth of deals, Evercore with $23bn, and UBS with $21bn.  

In terms of deal volume, Rothschild & Co was the second runner-up with 29 deals, followed by UBS with 24 deals. Both Stifel/KBW and Houlihan Lokey advised on 23 deals each. 

GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names. 

To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.