JPMorgan keeps top spot in investment banking: study

Goldman Sachs second; trio of Bank of America Merrill Lynch , Citi and Deutsche Bank third

JPMorgan Chase kept its top spot for investment banking revenues last year while Citigroup and Barclays made the biggest improvement compared with 2011, a study showed on Thursday.

Industry analytics firm Coalition said JPMorgan's investment banking revenues of $24.1 billion put it ahead of second-placed Goldman Sachs and a trio of banks shared third place - Bank of America Merrill Lynch , Citi and Deutsche Bank . Barclays ranked sixth.

Coalition last month estimated 2012 revenues for the investment banks in its study at $159 billion, up 10% from the year before, led by a 21% jump in the core area of fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC).

Investment banks have put more emphasis on league tables in recent years. Tougher regulation and slower markets have left banks jostling for market share and firms such as UBS and RBS exiting or shrinking unprofitable areas.

Coalition said JPMorgan was the top bank in FICC with revenues of $14.4 billion, followed by Citi and Deutsche Bank.

Goldman topped equities rankings with $5.6 billion of revenue. JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley tied for second place.

Advisory and origination was led by JPMorgan, with revenues of $5.2 billion, followed by BAML and Goldman, according to Coalition's estimates.

Coalition says its study is based on public information from banks' results and benchmarked to a common standard to produce a top 10 league table.