Unlike their rivals over at JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs bankers failed to get in on the mass of M&A action in the first quarter.

"With the books yet to close on the first quarter, there already have been $717 billion worth of deals announced globally, 58% higher than the same quarter a year ago," the WSJ reports.

As for the U.S, it was the biggest quarter in M&A since the crisis hit in 2008.

"The U.S. accounted for about half of all global M&A, or $352 billion, the biggest dollar value of deal making since the second quarter of 2008," the WSJ said.

Globally, Morgan Stanley is number one. Goldman is fourth, and they're usually top dog. And in the U.S, Goldman, which wasn't involved in two gigantic deals this year (the restructuring of AIG and the AT&T-T-Mobile deal) just scrapes into the top 10, in tenth spot! They were in second place last quarter, Reuters reports.

It's the "worst showing in U.S. deal advisory rankings in more than two decades," falling below smaller boutique shops like Evercore and Rothschild.



One of the reported reasons for the decline, is injury to the firm's reputation. "Winning assignments has likely become harder for them, said one former Goldman Sachs managing director... 'They are no longer the default choice because of the taint around them -- justified or unjustified -- from the financial crisis'" Reuters reported.

Of course, it's early days; it's only Q1. And "all it would take was two big deals and Goldman could be back up at the top again."

M&A isn't Goldman's only headache -- its asset management arm has also taken a beating >