Two mergers in both the banking and financial advisory space changed the face of the U.S. bank M&A league tables in 2019.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, which worked on the $28.28 billion merger that created Truist Financial Corp., claimed the No. 1 spot by value for the year. Goldman Sachs garnered a total deal value of $36.42 billion out of four depository assignments.

It dislodged erstwhile headliner Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP, which completed its merger into Piper Jaffray Cos., now known as Piper Sandler Cos. The combined unit, Piper Sandler & Co., landed in the fifth spot, having advised on 56 deals that carried an aggregate value of $9.66 billion. Its deal count was the most among its peers in the sector, according to the league table rankings.

The landmark SunTrust-BB&T deal also helped lift BB&T Capital Markets and RBC Capital Markets LLC to the second and third spots, respectively, in the bank and thrift M&A league table ranking by deal value. The two were both No. 48 in the prior year's league tables. BB&T Capital Markets had a total deal assignment value of $28.32 billion out of three deals in the space, while RBC Capital Markets helped advise on just one deal that was valued at $28.28 billion in 2019.

The Truist deal also pushed Keefe Bruyette & Woods Inc. down to No. 4 from its No. 2 ranking in 2018. But the Stifel Financial Corp. unit held on to the second spot in terms of number of deals worked on during the year, with 35 assignments, next only to Piper Sandler & Co.

As for the legal advisers, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP dashed to the top post by value in 2019, up from No. 19 in 2018, with total deal value of $39.77 billion. Sullivan & Cromwell was one of the advisers on the Piper Sandler deal. By number of deals, Luse Gorman PC was No. 1, with 23 deal assignments worth a total of $1.99 billion.