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Investment Banking – Underwriters and Market Makers

Written by Dheeraj Vaidya, CFA, FRM Dheeraj Vaidya, CFA, FRM Content Reviewer & Course Director Dheeraj is a former J.P. Morgan and CLSA Equity Analyst with nearly two decades of experience in financial modeling, valuation, equity research, and corporate finance. He specializes in helping students and professionals develop practical and in-demand finance skills through structured and AI-powered, 20+ Years of experience CFA, FRM, IIT Delhi, IIM Lucknow Financial Modeling View Full Profile
Updated Aug 29, 2025
Read Time 2 min

What is Underwriting?

In the case of the underwriting function, the underwriters take the financial risk of their client in return for the financial fees. In the case of market makers’ operations, financial institutions and large banks ensure enough liquidity by providing sufficient trading volume.

Investment Banking - Underwriters and Market Makers

Underwriters and Market Makers – This is the 6th tutorial in 9 tutorials on investment banking.

In this tutorial, we discuss the following –

  1. Underwriting
  2. Market Making
  • Underwriters in the underwriting role assume the client’s financial risk in exchange for financial remuneration. As a result, financial institutions and big banks ensure enough trading volume to ensure ample liquidity in market makers’ operations.
  • An essential investment bank task in an IPO is underwriting.
  • An individual who maintains market liquidity is referred to as a market maker. They assist in running the financial market efficiently. 
  • The job of a market maker is to act as a middleman and present the buyer with a profitable price. If not, the seller keeps those shares and sells them at a profit in the future.
investment banking underwriters and market makers

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Do investment banking underwriters make commissions?

An underwriter is typically a member of a financial organization who, in exchange for a commission, premium, spread, or interest, assesses and determines the risk posed by another party in connection with mortgages, insurance, loans, or investments.

Who are investment banking underwriters in IPO?

IPO underwriters are financial specialists that work with the issuing body to estimate the securities’ initial offering price, buy the securities from the issuer, and sell them to investors through the underwriter’s distribution network.

Do investment banking market makers lose money?

The investment banking market maker may lose money if they lay an order and reverse the trade at the worst price.

Do investment banking market makers trade against you?

Market makers are significant banks that buy and sell currencies on their client’s behalf. In addition, they often deal with each other to offer liquidity in the market. So, if a market maker trades with another market maker, they are not certainly trading against you.