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