Morgan Stanley’s M&A bankers are on track to eclipse their capital markets colleagues for the first year since the turn of the millennium, as surging advisory revenues contrasted with plunging fees from running equity and debt deals in the second quarter.

Advisory revenues in the six months to June 30 rose 22% from a year ago to $1.09 billion, while revenues from debt and equity underwriting totalled $1.01 billion, down from $1.7 billion, according to Morgan Stanley's latest quarterly results published on July 20.