Morgan Stanley and Houlihan Lokey ranked as the leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) financial advisers in the financial services sector during the first three quarters (Q1-Q3) of 2026, according to the latest league table from GlobalData.
An analysis of GlobalData’s Deals Database reveals that Morgan Stanley led by value with $67.4bn worth of transactions, while Houlihan Lokey topped by volume with 38 advised deals.
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UBS was placed second in the value rankings after advising on $62.3bn in deals.
Barclays followed with $54.5bn, ahead of Goldman Sachs with $52.8bn and JPMorgan with $38.6bn.
Piper Sandler and Stifel/KBW each advised on 35 deals, placing them behind Houlihan Lokey in the volume ranking.
Goldman Sachs advised on 25 transactions, while Barclays worked on 22 deals.
GlobalData lead analyst Aurojyoti Bose said: “The total number of deals advised by Houlihan Lokey remained almost at the same level during Q1-Q3 2026 compared to Q1-Q3 2025 and its ranking by volume was also unchanged.
“Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley saw a decline in the total value of deals advised by it but managed to retain its leadership position by value from Q1-Q3 2025. Nearly half of the deals advised by the firm during Q1-Q3 2026 were billion-dollar deals, including three mega deals valued more than $10 billion as well. Involvement in these big-ticket deals helped it secure the top spot by value. Morgan Stanley also held the sixth position by volume.”
GlobalData’s league tables are based on the real-time tracking of thousands of company websites, advisory firm websites and other reliable sources available on the secondary domain. A dedicated team of analysts monitors all these sources to gather in-depth details for each deal, including adviser names.
To ensure further robustness to the data, the company also seeks submissions of deals from leading advisers.
