Investment banking fees in Singapore soared to US$693.8m in the first nine months of 2026, marking a 9% increase from the previous year and the highest year-to-date total since 2021, according to the London Stock Exchange Group’s (LSEG) Deals Intelligence team. This surge accounted for 3.4% of Asia Pacific’s investment banking fees and 69.3% of Southeast Asia’s fee pools.
The growth was primarily driven by mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity capital markets (ECM) activities. M&A advisory fees rose by 23.7% to US$256m, whilst ECM underwriting fees increased by 11.5% to US$159.8m. Syndicated lending fees also saw an 11.3% rise, reaching US$175.9m. However, debt capital markets fees experienced a decline of 24.6%, totalling US$102.3m.
Goldman Sachs & Co led the investment banking fee league table, earning US$86.5m and capturing a 12.5% share of the total fee pool. DBS Group Holdings and Morgan Stanley followed with US$61.1m and US$55.3m, respectively.
M&A activity involving Singapore reached US$104.3b, a 98.2% increase from the previous year, driven by a record first quarter. Despite a slowdown in subsequent quarters, the third quarter’s activity remained 34.2% higher than the same period last year. High Technology was the most targeted sector, accounting for 45.8% of the activity.
Equity and equity-related activities totalled US$7.4b, up 28.2% from the previous year. The number of issues, however, declined by 44.6% to 31 transactions. Real Estate issuers led ECM proceeds, raising US$3.5b.
As Singapore’s investment banking landscape continues to evolve, these figures highlight the robust growth and strategic importance of the region in the global financial market.
