By Alexander Saeedy

Executives from the biggest banks in the country said this week that they were on track to end a bumper year for Wall Street operations on a high.

Leaders from JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup shared early glimpses of fourth-quarter results during the Goldman Sachs Financial Services conference this week. Overall, their investment bankers are poised to have their best year since 2021, and their markets divisions are on pace for one of their best years ever, according to estimates by The Wall Street Journal based on executives' commentary.

The topsy-turvy year resulted in strong demand for the banks' trading and markets services, while dealmaking surged with an uptick in mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings of stock. Banks have already posted strong results for the first nine months, largely on the backs of their Wall Street operations.

JPMorgan consumer banking head Marianne Lake said investment-banking fees, which include money made from advising on deals as well as stock and debt offerings, would likely be up by single digits in the fourth quarter from a year ago. Citigroup finance chief Mark Mason predicted a 20% jump for his group, which has been a focus of Citi. Goldman Sachs CFO Denis Coleman said it looked like his bank would have its second-biggest year in history for banking fees.

On the trading side, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said his firm was expecting markets revenues to be up as much as 10% in the quarter, while Lake said JPMorgan was forecasting growth in the low teens year-over-year. Such estimates would translate to a strong close of the year and possibly one of the best trading years on record.

"We think it's a constructive time," said Moynihan. "Deals are getting done, and people are out there betting on stuff, it's all pretty good."

While they showed high enthusiasm for what's to come in 2026, bankers acknowledged that there had been some disappointments this year compared with expectations on Wall Street after the election of President Trump.

The market panic related to the "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in April and the government shutdown this fall, which made it difficult for companies to file paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell stock or other investments, both slowed dealmaking fees.

Competition among banks is also growing more fierce.

After years of focusing on risk management and moving past the scars of the 2008-09 financial crisis, banks are showing they are willing to go after more aggressive profit targets and try to gain share in lines of business they view as critical to their future.

Bank of America is stepping up recruiting at its wealth-management arm Merrill Lynch at a scale not seen for years. JPMorgan's Lake announced Tuesday that the bank's expenses in 2026 will go up by nearly $10 billion as it builds out more bank branches and redesigns some of its credit card portfolio. The news JPMorgan shares down for the day, though they bounced back.

"I have seen that some of our traditional competitors are leaning back into growth," Lake said. "So, you know, bring it on."

Write to Alexander Saeedy at alexander.saeedy@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 12, 2025 12:13 ET (17:13 GMT)

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