Letter of credit (L/C) business suffered in 2015 from weak conditions in the commodity markets and the slowdown in China according to analytics company, Coalition.

It said that the transaction banking revenue of the 12 largest global corporate and investment banks was down 6 per cent in 2015, the first drop in five years.

Under pressure

"Pressure in commodities and a slowdown in emerging markets led to lower revenue in trade finance, particularly in commodities trade finance and L/Cs," according to Coalition.

Conversely, the London-based analysts said supply chain finance had a good year in 2015, benefitting from increased client demand.

Top banks

Goldman Sachs remained the largest bank by commodities revenue in 2015, making the most money from raw materials among the top 12 investment banks for a second consecutive year.

Coalition tracked the performance of Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citi, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Société Générale and UBS.

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