Investment banking fees in Canada shrink

Canada has gone from hot to not as a source of investment banking fees, which comes as no surprise to anyone trying to do a deal in the moribund mining business.

In the first nine months of the year, investment banking fees in Canada were down 10 per cent from last year, Thomson Reuters estimates released Wednesday show. Combine that with an erosion in the stock trading business, and the reason the securities business in Canada is shrinking becomes abundantly clear.

It could be worse. Australia is down 20 per cent, Brazil is down 23 per cent and Spain is down 26 per cent. But Canada is one of the world's biggest markets in terms of fees, thanks to its deal-happy culture, so the actual dollar value of the drop is bigger than those other countries.

The decline sees Canada falling behind the U.K. and Japan as a source of deal fees for the first three quarters, but still leaves the country ahead of larger economies such as China and Germany.

Here is a taste of the year to date performance, from Thomson Reuters:

Global fees $56.8-billion (U.S.) +3.3 per cent

U.S. $27.6-billion +8.7 per cent

Japan $3.28-billion +3.7 per cent

U.K. $3.09-billion +5.4 per cent

Canada $3.08-billion –10.2 per cent

China $2.55-billion –5.2 per cent

Australia $1.3-billion –20.2 per cent