War, cynics say, is good for business. Investment bankers servicing M&A would undoubtedly agree.

Globally, investment bankers pocketed a whopping USD 15bn from M&A transactions in the year to date (YTD; 30 April 2026) – an all-time high, according to data by Dealogic. This figure is up from USD 13bn in 2025 YTD and up from USD 13.7bn in 2022 YTD – the previous record.

The US, which typically leads the way for M&A – in terms of value, volume and fees – has surpassed itself this year. Its total share of M&A fees, which has hovered at roughly half that of global fees, is currently at 61% and stands at USD 9.2bn – up from USD 7.1bn in 2025 YTD.

“It is not surprising that [Dealogic] data shows M&A fee revenues are up in the US,” said Dean Bell, KPMG’s US Head of Deal Advisory and Strategy, noting that it corresponds to higher deal values in the US – up about 41% year-on-year to almost USD 900bn at the end of April, as per Dealogic data.

“Dealmakers,” Bell continued, “have been spurred by a more favorable anti-trust environment, lower interest rates, and lower taxes from the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), with companies leveraging M&A to drive growth, enter new markets, acquire new technological capabilities – particularly in artificial intelligence – and divest non-core assets.”

Tech and healthcare fees shine

In another first, tech deals have accounted for more than USD 2bn in fees YTD, up from USD 1.7bn in 2025 YTD, as the race towards AI supremacy gains momentum.

“Capital allocation toward AI is experiencing highly significant growth,” said Anuj Bahal, KPMG US Advisory Leader for Technology, Media & Telecoms. “As organizations transition from exploratory pilot programs to scalable, enterprise-wide integration, the mandate to capture immediate ROI is driving aggressive inorganic growth,” Bahal continued. “This urgency is validated by our year-end M&A survey, which revealed that 41% of dealmakers plan to leverage M&A in 2026, specifically to acquire advanced technological capabilities, including highly sought-after AI talent,” he said.

Fees from healthcare also jumped to USD 1.7bn at the end of April from USD 1.1bn in the corresponding period a year earlier.

Across healthcare and biopharma, too, companies continue to pursue scale, said Kristin Pothier, Global Deal Advisory & Strategy Leader for Healthcare & Life Sciences. “Larger institutions continue to pursue scale through acquisitions of smaller hospitals and health systems with differentiated clinical or digital capabilities that can improve patient care,” she said, while in biopharma, “deal activity remains focused on strengthening portfolio resilience ahead of the patent cliff, alongside pricing and policy uncertainty.”

Other sectors have far from lagged.

Industrials, financial institutions, energy and natural resources have all netted investment bankers more than USD 1bn a piece already this year. This compares to only tech and healthcare, which generated more than USD 1bn in fees in 2025 YTD.

Rich get richer

The top 10 M&A fee earners in the US showed only one switch from the list last YoY.

While in the last YTD the elite club accounted for roughly 56% of total fees; this year, the top 10 names garnered 68%. Nine of the names closed more deals than last year, punctuating their leading market positions.

Paving the way, unsurprisingly, was Goldman Sachs, long-time veteran of not just US, but even global M&A, with USD 1.3bn under its belt, up 64% YoY. In the second and third spots, unshaken from 2025 YTD, were JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, earning USD 1bn and USD 800m, respectively. It is worth noting that in total, all 10 players earned an average 59% higher than they had in YTD 2025. The only two names who earned less than they did last year were Citi, down 5% to USD 360m and Houlihan Lokey, down 2% to USD 230m.

The only new name on the coveted list was Barclays, which ousted Qatalyst Partners.

It’s been a good start for investment bankers and even though the geopolitical situation has yet to squelch M&A appetite, reservations remain.

“If the conflict ends soon and the Strait of Hormuz reopens permanently,” continued KPMG’s Bell, “many paused M&A deals can quickly restart.” However, he warned, “if the war continues and triggers global energy shortages, it will create a significant drag on the market, with volatile energy prices making valuations difficult, and higher energy prices [leading to] higher interest rates … [and] stifling M&A activity.”

*Dealogic Revenue Data: Dealogic uses a proprietary revenue model to estimate investment banking fees across four key products: M&A, equity capital markets (ECM), bonds or debt capital markets (DCM), and loans. Revenues derived from any geography/sector indicate fees generated by fee-payers based in that geography/sector. M&A fees are calculated 10% upon announcement and 90% upon completion.