To figure out who's winning that war, Bloomberg Markets Magazine put together a list of the of the best paid
This year, JP Morgan Chase made the top of a list. It was the top investment bank in debt and equity fees overall.
The bank's mergers and acquisitions fees fell in 2012, but total fees rose 3.7 percent, to $50.9 billion. According to Bloomberg Markets, that was driven higher "by a surge in the refinancing of corporate debt."
Goldman Sachs, which ranked no. 1 last year, slipped to no. 2 this year, but still led the ranking for mergers and acquisitions fees.
Morgan Stanley, which was no. 2 for 2011, slipped to no. 3 because of the botched Facebook IPO.
Interesting stuff, and the report comes with some good news on 2013 too. M&A deals in the first six weeks of the year totaled $288.2 billion, a significant jump from $246.6 billion in the same period last year.