Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray (NYSE: PJC) is now the fifth-largest investment firm in the country ranked by market capitalization. At the start of the year, it had been No. 10, but the year’s shakeup has basically cleared the top five spots: New York’s Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy; Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns were bought by Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, while Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley – formerly the two largest investment banks – restructured themselves into bank holding companies Monday.

The realignment created a new top list of largest investment banks - which is now led by St. Petersburg, Fla.-based Raymond James Financial. Jefferies & Co. is the second-largest firm now, followed by Greenhill & Co. (No. 3) and Keefe Bruyettte & Woods (No.4).

Source. Investment banking isn't dead, yet. But interesting that two of the new top five are privately-held firms.

I don't suspect this is the kind of growth Raymond James was expecting when they named that stadium.

Labels: banking, economics