Goldman Sachs, which has ranked No. 1 for full-year worldwide announced M&A every year but one since 1998, has dropped to fourth place over the past three months as global dealflow returned to pre-crisis levels, driven by the biggest M&A deal for 15 months, on which Goldman missed a place. It was first this time last year.

In the US, the bank dropped from first this time last year to 10th in preliminary first quarter rankings by Thomson Reuters.