Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of GOldman Sachs, and Manuel Medina-Mora, chief executive of consumer banker for the Americas at Citigroup, last week use public speaking engagements to emphasise the impoerance of emerging markets for future growth.

Analysis by Financial News of this year's performance of US investment banks illustrates why American institutions are looking to Asia and the emerging economies instead of Europe when considering their future prosperity.