Goldman Sachs set to benefit as US banking fees hit four-year high
Goldman bankers are heading into a stronger fee cycle, with the biggest U.S. banks set for $11.1 billion in revenue and Goldman’s deal desks likely first to feel it.
The five largest U.S. investment banks are on track to generate $11.1 billion in fees, the highest total since 2021, and Goldman Sachs is among the firms positioned to benefit. Inside Goldman, that kind of rebound usually shows up first in the rooms handling M&A, equity underwriting and financing, where stronger deal flow can feed bonus pools, hiring requests and tougher workload demands before it reaches the rest of the franchise.
The latest forecast points to a 27% year-over-year jump in second-quarter investment banking fees across Goldman, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup, with equity capital markets fees alone expected to reach $2.5 billion. For bankers, the practical read-through is familiar: when ECM reopens and clients start issuing stock again, the pace picks up fast, calendars fill, and the pressure shifts from just winning business to closing it before competitors do. That is also when promotion timing becomes more visible, because the people closest to live mandates tend to get the clearest case for higher comp and broader coverage.
Goldman has already been signaling that the rebound is real. On December 9, 2025, Denis Coleman said announced mergers and acquisitions were on track to become the second-biggest in history industrywide, a comment that matched the broader optimism on Wall Street as strategic activity came back. Goldman’s 2025 annual report said its Global Banking & Markets business is poised to capitalize on an upswing in strategic activity, and that net revenues from its financing businesses have grown at a 17% compounded annual rate since 2021. It also said those financing businesses accounted for 37% of total FICC and Equities net revenues in 2025, giving the bank a strong internal lever if markets stay open.
Goldman’s own second-quarter 2026 results underline how much the firm is already benefiting from the market backdrop. The bank reported net revenues of $20.34 billion and net earnings of $6.63 billion for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, with diluted earnings per share of $20.98. If the fee recovery extends into the rest of the year, the first effects inside Goldman are likely to be felt in compensation discussions, staffing across advisory and underwriting teams, and a sharper scramble for mandates against the other big U.S. banks.
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