Equities headcount at the 10 largest investment banks globally has surpassed that in their fixed income units for the first time since 2010, underlining strategic shifts to boost stock trading divisions, according to new Coalition figures.

The switch, which is revealed in the analytics company third-quarter data published on November 16, has arisen after years of consistent decline in fixed-income staffing levels, which have fallen to 17,000 in 2015 from 24,000 in the same quarter of 2010. Equities, by contrast, held steady from 2014 at 17,400, according to Coalition.