NEW YORK, 15 January 2026 — Morgan Stanley reported significantly stronger-than-expected investment-banking results for the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by a spectacular performance in its debt underwriting business that helped lift overall fees and cap a record year for the unit.
According to the bank’s latest results, debt bankers delivered a 93 per cent jump in revenue in the quarter, far exceeding analyst expectations and marking the largest percentage increase among major Wall Street peers. Revenue from debt underwriting, which includes helping corporate and government clients raise capital through bond sales, reached $785 million, comfortably above the consensus estimate of about $635 million.
Overall investment-banking fee income climbed to approximately $2.41 billion, up 47 per cent year-on-year, reflecting stronger demand for capital-markets services amid active issuance and refinancing activity. The stronger fee haul also contributed to a robust performance across the bank’s broader investment-banking and capital markets division.
Analysts say the debt underwriting boom has been supported by a combination of favourable interest-rate dynamics, high corporate refinancing activity and steady investor appetite for fixed-income assets, even as broader markets experienced heightened volatility late in the year. The strong results underscore renewed momentum in several corners of Wall Street’s deal and financing landscape following uneven performance in prior years.
The record investment-banking fee performance positions Morgan Stanley well alongside its major Wall Street competitors, all of which have reported heightened deal activity and fee growth through 2025, a year that is shaping up to be one of the strongest for global M&A and capital markets since the pandemic.
