The past two years have seen strong performance in corporate and investment banking (CIB), with players benefiting from rising revenues and returns on equity that are comfortably above the cost of capital. From 2000 to 2024, revenues rose at a CAGR of 5.7 percent, reaching $3 trillion in 2024, and ROE exceeded 13 percent, on average; the upward trend continued in 2025, based on preliminary data.
However, this strong performance comes against a backdrop of dramatic change. Three trends threaten to upend the industry: macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility and uncertainty; the rise of attacker firms challenging traditional CIBs in some of their most profitable business lines; and dramatic changes at the digital frontier as agentic AI and digital assets, such as stablecoins, gain ground.
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