According to research from Freeman & Co, income from advising on mergers and bond and shares sales stood at $5.9 billion in the first four months of this year - the lowest total since 2004.
Reacting to the findings, Ivor Dunbar, co-head of global capital markets at Deutsche Bank, told Bloomberg: "Companies have been held back from tapping primary markets because of the volatility and uncertainty driven by concerns over sovereign debt."
The statistics for Europe are in contrast to improvements made in other global markets, with the US recording a 53 per cent increase in investment banking fee income and Asia seeing a 68 per cent rise.
Last week, German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble called for other eurozone countries to follow the lead of his country and introduce tougher budget laws to bring down their debt levels.
By Claire Archer