Bloomberg had a great high level article on investment banking league tables that really puts the market in perspective. The top 5 BB's raked in $18Bn in M&A, Equity and Debt Fee's.
These fee driven arms of the banks, the true sell side. They are solid cash flow engines that are lumpy, but will always churn out a profit. Prop trading is dead, but banking is not.
Two point of interest: bond fee's leading the years fees, as corporations continued to tap into the low interest rate environment and GS dropped from #1.
http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-03-02/the-world-s-best-paid-inv…
