A torrid fourth quarter for debt underwriting on Wall Street added Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley to its victims as year-on-year revenue falls of 25% to 30% left both banks nursing double-digit declines over the course of 2015.

Earnings from the pair, which both posted their fourth-quarter and full-year results on January 19, followed those of US rival JP Morgan, which on January 14 revealed its own debt underwriting revenues plunged 43% in the three months to December 31. This wiped out earlier growth and left debt underwriting revenues 6% below 2014's level.