Barclays was the leading financial advisor in financial services M&A during the first quarter of 2026 by transaction value, while Houlihan Lokey was ranked first by number of transactions, according to the latest GlobalData ranking.
Data from GlobalData’s financial offerings database showed Barclays advised on transactions worth $31.4 billion in the quarter.
Houlihan Lokey worked on 15 deals, the most among industry advisors.
Morgan Stanley was second in the value ranking with $27.9 billion in advised transactions. Goldman Sachs followed with $26.8 billion, ahead of Lazard with $25.6 billion and JPMorgan with $25.1 billion.
On the volume chart, Goldman Sachs came in second place with 11 deals. Piper Sandler, Stifel/KBW and Raymond James Financial shared the following roles, each advising on nine deals.
GlobalData Principal Analyst Aurojyoti Bose commented: “Houlihan Lokey was the top advisor by volume in Q1 2025 and managed to retain it in Q1 2026. Interestingly, the number of deals he advised also did not change.
“Meanwhile, the top 10 advisors by value, including Barclays, recorded growth in the total value of deals they advised in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the first quarter of 2025. In fact, Barclays saw a more than seven-fold increase in the total value of deals advised by it, improving its ranking from eighth place in the first quarter of 2025 to first position in the first quarter of 2026. Notably, Barclays advised on three billion-dollar* deals including two mega deals valued at over $10 billion, helping it record a massive jump in terms of value.”
GlobalData Leaderboards are based on real-time monitoring of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all of these sources to compile detailed details of each deal, including the names of the advisors.
To ensure greater data robustness, the company also search for bid presentations of prominent advisors.
“Barclays and Houlihan Lokey Top Q1 2026 Financial Services M&A Advisor Rankings” was created and originally published by Private Banker International, a brand owned by GlobalData.
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