LONDON (Reuters) - The revenues for the 12 biggest global investment banks from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) declined in the March quarter, led by a sharp fall in trading government debt and swaps, according to data from industry watcher Coalition.
Revenues from the so-called G10 rates segment was $5.4 billion in the first quarter, a 12% decline from the same period last year, weighing on the broader FICC divisions at banks and offsetting the growth in income from trading commodities.
The decline was largely due to the underperformance in both flow and structured rates in Asia and Europe, Coalition said.
Yields in global government bond markets extended their drop this week with core European bond yields pushing deeper into negative territory as concerns about a global slowdown due to festering trade tensions between China and the United States.