In brief: JPMorgan keeps crown with $5.9bn, London gets first renminbi bank, Japan left behind as trade deficit persists

JPMorgan Chase remained king of the bulge-bracket banks with first-quarter revenues of $5.9 billion (£3.5 billion), beating rivals Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi, which all tied for second place, according to industry analytics firm Coalition.

Morgan Stanley finished sixth while Barclays and Credit Suisse came joint seventh in a period that saw the fixed income revenues of investment banks hit.

China Construction Bank in London today became the first renminbi clearing bank outside Asia, in what the Chancellor and the Governor of the Bank of England hailed as great news for the City.

The move, which followed an agreement signed with Beijing in March, means British firms trading with China will find it much easier to use the currency. It also boosts London’s bid to become the major non-Asian base for renminbi trading.

Japan racked up its 23rd successive month of trade deficits in May as recovery in the US and Europe failed to boost the world’s third-biggest economy, figures showed today.

The shutdown of its nuclear plants in the wake of the March 2011 tsunami triggered much higher imports of crude oil and gas, and a weaker yen pushed up prices. Exports and imports both declined — down 2.7% and 3.6% respectively.