Big investment banks have worst start to year since 2006

LONDON (Reuters) - The world's largest investment banks have had their worst start to a year since 2006, according to the latest data published by industry analyst Coalition on Thursday.

In the first six months of 2019 investment banks reported revenues of $76.8 billion, down 11% on the prior year and the lowest first-half performance for 13 years.

Revenues fell across the board, with the deepest decline in equities trading, down 17% to $22.1 billion.

Fixed income, currencies and commodities revenues fell 9%, while investment bank advisory was down 8%.

The banks' profitability also suffered, with operating margins sliding 500 basis points to 31%, their lowest level for four years.

Several major banks have cut jobs in their investment banking divisions in response to weak results, including Deutsche Bank , HSBC , Societe Generale (OTCBB: SOGN) and Citigroup (NYSE: C).

Deutsche Bank plans to make the deepest cuts after announcing 18,000 jobs cuts in July, with the bulk in investment banking.

Coalition tracks Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE: BAC), Barclays , BNP Paribas , Citi, Credit Suisse (OTC: CSGN), Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), HSBC, JP Morgan (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Societe Generale and UBS .

(Reporting by Iain Withers. Editing by Jane Merriman)

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