It’s a good time to be a megabank.
In many businesses, the largest global banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. JPM, +1.11% and Bank of America Corp. BAC, +0.34% are getting bigger, while others are struggling to keep pace. The latest example: the volatility-induced surge in first-quarter stock-trading revenue that smaller U.S. investment banks almost universally missed out on.
Stifel Financial Corp. SF, +2.09% , Raymond James Financial Inc., RJF, +2.24% Evercore Inc. EVR, +1.58% and Piper Jaffray Cos. PJC, +1.98% all reported drops of 10% or more in stock-trading revenue for the first three months of 2018 compared with a year ago, according to company filings, resulting in the lowest market share in years for midtier trading firms.
