The Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) has published new reports and data on broker-dealers, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and business development companies (BDCs).
Today’s reports provide the public with information about the changes in broker-dealer and M&A activity over time. In addition, the BDC data allow the public to conduct its own analysis of data filed with the Commission.
“It is important to understand the current status of markets and how they have been changing,” said Robert Fisher, Acting Chief Economist and Director of the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Analysis. “Providing such information helps all of us to understand how the markets are functioning.”
The three reports and data issued today are:
- Broker-Dealer Activity in the United States provides information on registered broker-dealers and their activities over the period 2010-2024, including an analysis of the industry, the structure of activity of different types of broker-dealers, and the revenues and expenses of broker-dealers. As of 2024, there were approximately 3,340 broker-dealers with total assets of approximately $6.4 trillion. The number of broker-dealers declined by approximately 30% from 2010 to 2024, but assets grew by approximately $1.7 trillion. These results show a trend of industry consolidation, with a declining fraction of market participants responsible for a larger asset pool by the end of the sample period.
- Analysis of Merger & Acquisition Activity provides a recent analysis of the U.S. mergers and acquisitions market, including an analysis of the characteristics of a typical deal and the geographic location of the acquirers and targets. The market has exhibited cyclicality such that years with favorable overall market performance were generally associated with higher deal volume. The average deal value was $3.5 billion, while the median deal value was $0.5 billion. The average acquirer had assets of $40 billion, but the median was close to $7 billion. In contrast, targets were significantly smaller, with the average target reporting assets of $5 billion and the median target reporting assets of $1 billion. Close to three-quarters of the deals involved acquirers and targets in the same two-digit Standard Industrial Classification industry and approximately a third of the deals involved targets and acquirers headquartered in the same state.
- Business Development Company Data Sets provide data extracted from disclosures filed by BDCs with the Commission. The BDC Data Sets provide a schedule of investments report, detailed financial data sets, and a summary non-financial data set.
DERA integrates financial economics and rigorous data analytics into the SEC’s core mission. It conducts detailed, high-quality economic and statistical analyses to advise on Commission matters and helps identify and respond to issues, trends, and innovations in the marketplace.
