The financial institutions sector dominated equity capital markets revenues for Wall Street investment banks in 2006, outshining stalwarts such as technology and telecoms and capping six straight years of double-digit revenue growth.

Financial institutions groups underwrote 607 equity capital markets deals to bring in $3.7bn (€2.8bn) of revenue for investment banks, a 22% rise from 2005 and just shy of the $3.9bn brought in by the technology and telecoms sector, according to Banc of America Securities brokerage analyst Michael Hecht.