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Then and now: how investment banking has slimmed down and consolidated

Five years on from the heady days of 2006, the financial crisis has transformed Wall Street from a giant cash dispenser into a more sober and much less profitable place

Investment banking used to be such fun. In 2006, the last hurrah for the industry before the losses from sub-prime mortgages began to rip through Wall Street’s profits, everyone was printing money.

Goldman Sachs made an eye-watering pre-tax return on equity of 41%, and paid its chief executive Lloyd Blankfein a record $54m.

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