Stifel Financial sees Q1 investment banking revenue down 5%-10% from Q4

Last night, Ronald Kruszewski, Chairman and CEO of Stifel Financial, said: "In February, we continued to see strong net new asset growth from our existing clients and solid recruiting activity, however our total client assets decreased modestly due to declines in the equity markets. Operating conditions for investment banking have remained challenging, as such, we estimate that first quarter investment banking revenue will be down 5-10% from fourth quarter levels. In light of the recent turmoil in the banking industry, I’d like to reassure our clients and investors that Stifel’s balance sheet remains strong and liquid. While our client cash balances declined modestly due to seasonality and cash sorting in February, over the past two weeks, we have attracted over $1.3B in additional bank deposits, including an increase in uninsured deposits that reflects our strength in liquidity, short duration balance sheet, and strong capital position. Even accounting for the $1.3B in additional bank deposits, 85% of our current total deposits are FDIC insured." Stifel Financial also reported selected operating results for February 28 in "an effort to provide timely information to investors on certain key performance metrics," but noted that "due to the limited nature of this data, a consistent correlation to earnings should not be assumed." Reference Link