JPMorgan just claimed bragging rights from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley
The bank looks set to finish the third quarter ranked as the number one bank in the world for revenues from equity capital markets work, according to Dealogic.
That includes things like working on initial public offerings and equity capital fundraisings for listed companies.
According to data provider Dealogic's preliminary results for the year to September 23, JPMorgan is ranked number one, marginally ahead of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. A little more than $50 million splits the three banks.
At this stage last year, JPMorgan ranked third, Goldman Sachs second, and Morgan Stanley placed number one.
JPMorgan's jump from third to first place means serious bragging rights for the global investment bank - it's something the bank can promote in marketing material when it pitches for work.
It also comes in a quiet year for activity, with total ECM revenue for the period down 15% to $14.2 billion.
Love/hate relationship
Most investment banks enjoy a love/hate relationship with these league tables. When they rank number one, they tout them to clients and cite them on earnings announcements. When they fall down the rankings, they tend to question their accuracy.
They remain a closely-watched indicator of who is up and who is down, however, and have some value as an independent source of information on market share. Most bankers say that while they aren't 100% accurate, the imperfections even out.
Banks generally release revenue numbers for equity capital markets in their quarterly announcements, but each bank is liable to include different bits of business in different reporting lines. There are also certain transactions, such as private structured derivative trades, which aren't captured in the Dealogic numbers.
Goldman Sachs for example reported $1.1 billion in revenues for equity capital markets for the first half, more than Dealogic's estimates for the first nine months.
There are also lots of different ways of cutting the data. Goldman Sachs ranks top for ECM volumes, meaning it has worked on a higher value of equity deals than any of its rivals. Morgan Stanley ranks number one globally for initial public offering volumes, meanwhile.
Here is the Dealogic data: