Global fees for services ranging from merger and acquisitions advisory to capital markets underwriting totalled $86.9 billion in 2015, the lowest annual figure since 2013.

Regionally, fees in Europe declined 16 percent compared with a year ago, Asia Pacific fees fell 12 percent and fees from the Americas were down by a more modest 3 percent.

One bright spot was mergers and acquisitions (M&A), where fees from completed activity rose 8 percent year-on-year, as worldwide M&A in 2015 rose 42 percent to $4.7 trillion, the strongest year for deal making on record.

Investment banking income was dragged down by a 13 percent decline in equity capital markets fees compared to a year ago, and an 18 percent decline in debt capital markets fees as global markets were hit by volatility sparked by global growth worries, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a China slowdown.

JPMorgan (>> JPMorgan Chase & Co.) topped the global league table for fees, drawing in $5.98 billion during the year, down 7.5 percent compared to a year ago, but maintaining 6.9 percent of the overall wallet share.

The top five banks were all American, with Goldman Sachs (>> Goldman Sachs Group Inc) the only one in the top five to increase its fees intake for the year, up 6.9 percent to $5.94 billion.

Europe's biggest investment banks continued to lose market share, with Deutsche Bank (>> Deutsche Bank AG), ranked sixth, seeing a 20 percent year-on-year decline in fees to total $3.45 billion, or a 0.6 percent decline in the wallet share.

Credit Suisse (>> Credit Suisse Group AG) saw a 13.9 percent decline in fees to $3.32 billion and Barclays (>> Barclays PLC) a 11.2 percent decline to $3.29 billion.

(Reporting By Anjuli Davies)

By Anjuli Davies