Congratulations, Raymond James, you're now the nation's largest investment bank.

How? Because every other investment bank bigger than Raymond James Financial Inc. bit the dust last week or agreed to shotgun weddings with larger "commercial" banks that are perceived as more stable - stable by Wall Street standards.

St. Petersburg-based Raymond James is still dwarfed by the biggest names in finance. However, after the earthquakes in the financial world last week, "RayJay" now stands at No. 1 in the investment bank world arena, at least measured by its total stock value as an independent company, about $3.8 billion.

This requires a bit of a definition: Investment banks generally work under less regulation, buying and selling everything from stocks to bonds to companies and real estate. They advise corporate clients on mergers and help them go public by selling their stock. Operating loosely, they can pay enormous bonuses to executives who buy and sell things on behalf of clients.

By contrast, commercial banks have more regulations and the government requires them to keep more significant assets on hand. They also can take savings deposits, open checking accounts and handle mortgages and corporate lines of credit.

Last week, a painful credit crisis effectively killed off one investment bank and prompted others to seek shelter.

Lehman Brothers, one of Wall Street's most storied names, filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. Merrill Lynch will sell itself to Bank of America, a commercial and retail bank. Morgan Stanley will switch from being an investment bank to a commercial bank. So will Goldman Sachs.

With Bear Stearns bought by J.P. Morgan, that leaves Raymond James, with about 4,000 employees in the Tampa Bay area and about 10,000 nationally. RayJay makes much of its revenue from brokering stocks on behalf of individual investors. Its name also appears on many initial public offerings and other finance deals.

Being No. 1 can be a risky thing for financial names. Stock in Raymond James was downgraded to "market perform" from "outperform" by an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. Raymond James had jumped from just more than $22 a share in April to $38.25 last week, then down again to close at $30.80 Monday.

Further, the report warned that a "slowing economy and volatility" in the markets could hold down future profit.

Still, Raymond James can count on most of its money coming from things other than investment banking.

The majority of its revenue comes from buying and selling stock for clients - $1.6 billion in 2007. Just $192 million is from investment banking, a blip compared with a company such as Goldman Sachs.

Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at   (813) 259-7919 or rmullins@tampatrib.com.