An iron ore mine in Australia. Mergers and acquisitions are at weak levels so far this year, including in the mining sector, where they are usually plentiful.Morag MacKinnon/Reuters
Banks globally aren't going to be booking earnings growth from merger advice fees.
Global mergers and acquisitions volumes are on pace for the slowest year since 2008 - which was a terrible year.
Preliminary first-half figures from Thomson Reuters show global M&A volumes for 2012 so far have barely cracked $1-trillion (U.S.).
Activity in mining and materials and in energy, the sectors that matter most to Canada's investment banking industry, are slow. Energy and power deals are down 28 per cent, and materials has declined 23 per cent from last year's pace.
Activity by private equity funds, after showing signs of a resurgence last year, has also fallen off.