APAC IB Fees Surge 19% in 2025: China & Singapore Drive M&A & ECM Boom

The LSEG Deals Intelligence report for 2025 reveals significant momentum in the Asia Pacific investment banking landscape outside Japan. With total fees reaching US$24.9 billion, APAC ex-Japan now accounts for 18% of global IB fees, behind only the Americas (55%) and ahead of Europe (21%). China’s financial institutions dominate the regional IB fee pools—Citic Securities led the rankings with US$1.45 billion, and was followed by four other Chinese banks. This reflects not only the depth of China’s capital markets, but also external-market mechanisms—such as offshore yuan bond issuances (“dim sum” bonds) and the resurgence of IPO listings in Hong Kong—that remain essential in revenue diversification.

Singapore’s market stood out with nearly 29% fee growth, reaching US$864.6 million—singularly strong performance, driven by equity and debt capital market activity, while syndicated lending declined. DBS emerged as the leading fee earner, owning a modest 8.4% of the local fee pool, but positioning itself as the key gatekeeper for Singapore-domiciled equity, ECM, and bond underwriting mandates. This implies Singapore remains competitively important in ASEAN’s IB map, both for domestic issuers and cross-border listings/lending.

The breakdown by segment illuminates divergent performance across fee sources: equity capital markets underwriting fees rose sharply (~45%) across APAC, reflecting favorable market conditions and successful IPO execution; debt capital markets fees also expanded (~11%). Advisory (M&A) fees saw a 43% annual increase, underscoring renewed dealmaking appetite across corporate strategy in the region. By contrast, syndicated lending was flat or negative in certain markets (notably Singapore, where it fell ~24.1%).

Strategic implications are several: global banks seeking growth should align with China-focused and HK-IPO/Dim Sum bond workflows; market timing and regulatory frameworks in China and HK will affect offshore issuance trends. Also, regional hubs like Singapore need to manage the dependency on ECM and debt underwriting while seeking to shore up areas like syndicated lending and domestic M&A to build resilience. For incumbents like Citic, China Securities, Bank of China, and foreign players like Morgan Stanley (6th in ranking), maintaining cross-border execution strength will be critical.

Key open questions remain: how sustainable is the IPO and offshore bond boom in 2026? Can regulatory tightening, global interest rate trajectories, or macro-political risks in China or Hong Kong reverse the current trajectory? Also, can non-China APAC markets replicate this growth, or will the region’s performance be increasingly China-centric?