The bank's pipeline for deals worldwide is strong despite uncertainty over timing as U.S. tariff policies roil markets and stall activity, he told investors at a conference.

"Our investment banking business is very strong, and I think the outlook remains quite good," Waldron said. "The pipeline is strong all over the world... but as we've already said, the element of volatility makes it hard" to predict when deals will materialize.

Corporate clients have a positive bias toward transactions and are still holding discussions about mergers, acquisitions and raising capital, Waldron said. Despite a broader slump in M&A, he cited a 30% increase in large deals valued at more than $500 million in the year to date as evidence of the market's resilience.

"Obviously in the second quarter it's been much slower than in the first... Nonetheless, even post-Liberation Day, we've worked on a number of very sizeable, important M&A transactions."