Investment banks also deal in private equity
investments and asset management, and they earn immense fees by brokering mergers
and acquisitions.
Then there are the big firms that provide stock
brokerage services.
Some of them, like
Merrill Lynch, are also investment banks.
Others, like Charles Schwab, are primarily stock brokers that deal with
millions of individual customers.
However, the lines have blurred between sectors
in recent years.
It is common for one
firm to operate in multiple segments of the investment industry at once,
including some or all of such sectors as commercial banking, investment
banking, asset management, insurance, mortgages, financial advisory, venture
capital, mergers and acquisitions and more.
The Global Investment Industry: This is a massive,
global industry, and in light of the fact that it provides the services that
enable companies to have access to capital, it is one of the most important
industries of all.
The World Federation
of Exchanges estimated the total value (market capitalization) of stocks on all
of the world's significant exchanges at $110.4 trillion as of 2020, with shares
available in over 50,000 companies.
After an extremely turbulent environment during
the recent recession (late 2007 through mid-2009), the global investment
industry has been greatly altered.
Many
of the best-known brands in the industry failed or were taken over.
Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail
completely.
Bear Stearns was taken over
by JPMorgan Chase at a nominal price.
By the end of the painful 2008-09
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