What Is the Role of Investment Banking Advisory Services?

Smith Williams
3 min readApr 28, 2023

Investment banking (IB) is vital in global finance since it helps businesses raise capital. Corporations benefit from several fundraising and business merger strategies that reputable investment banks offer to increase their competitive potential. This post will explore the role of investment banking advisory services.

What is an Investment Bank?

An investment bank is an intermediary between stakeholders of securities, like business owners and investors. Additionally, investment banking advisory services are necessary for the capital markets to assist companies with bond issuance and allow investors to gain ownership of new securities.

Many investment banks become market makers as they buy or sell a security at a strategic price. They provide liquidity. Enterprises needing significant capital support gather funding assistance that investment banks facilitate, although at a premium. Some investment banks might be an independent division of a recognized commercial or private banking brand.

Imagine a banking institution that offers investment research (IR), regular banking, loans, and pension funds. To address the conflict of interest, isolating IB operations from retail units or private banking solutions is a practical approach.

The Role of Investment Banking Advisory Services

1 — Market Making

The market-making role at an IB attracts less press coverage. However, it is as crucial as corporate finance operations in investment banking. What is the scope of an investment bank’s market-making activities?

It involves guaranteeing sufficient liquidity in the stakeholders’ target market. So, investment banks act as market makers to prevent liquidity crises and defend corporate finances. When a market maker discovers a trade is happening, the investment bank provides liquidity via the stocks. It is how investment banking works to support the global financial markets.

2 — Corporate Finance

The corporate finance functions in IB handle huge trades like mergers and initial public offerings. Corporate finance drives a wide variety of transactions belonging to the following types.

  • Mergers and acquisitions (M&A)
  • Initial public offerings (IPOs)

Businesses merge with rivals or acquire smaller firms to increase their financial and production capabilities. Accordingly, successful mergers and acquisitions demand expert administration, helping companies with business expansion milestones.

3 — Buying and Selling of Securities

Investment banks enable companies to issue new securities to raise funds for business development goals. Buying back their stock from investors to increase the price of their shares is achievable in investment banking support.

How does investment banking work when dealing with securities? IB firms make money on each transaction made by their clients. Meanwhile, underwriting services attempt to maintain stock value by committing the capital in an investment bank to unsold stocks. Additionally, such measures help business executives mitigate financial and competitive risks via investment banks.

4 — Increasing Global Financial Markets’ Efficiency and Resilience

Investment banks sustain the world economy. They play a critical role in global financial markets by connecting or matching companies with investors. When investors have funds to invest, they buy shares of stock directly from an organization. Also, they can use their broker at an IB support company.

Investment banks aid companies in raising project funds and managing their finances under the guidance of investment bankers working at that firm. Besides, several investment banks have teams dedicated to helping companies control mergers and acquisitions. One company acquires another business to gain strategic competitive benefits like market share or capability enhancements.

Conclusion

The role of investment banking encompasses every stage of the deal lifecycle in mergers and acquisitions. Likewise, IB professionals let companies issue bonds and IPOs. They complete their market-making obligations, making more liquidity available to offset IPO under-subscription risks.

Several infrastructure development projects worldwide used investment banks to fund their initial costs. Studying risks, conducting due diligence, building financial models, and presenting their findings in comprehensive reports are some tasks an IB professional must fulfill. The investment banking industry makes the global economy more robust and competitive.

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Smith Williams

My name is Smith and I work with SG Analytics. It is a bespoke & contextual research, analytics, and technology solutions provider to its clients.