Here is a summary of latest quarterly figures among banks and various wealth management firms around the world.

A roundup of second-quarter, first-half 2018 financial results from the private banking, wealth management industry.

Note: These results may be subject to revision. Not all banks report results in the same way or frequency.

Goldman Sachs
.It reported net revenues of $9.40 billion, up 19 per cent on a year ago, and net earnings of $2.57 billion, surging 40 per cent on the year. Net revenues in investment management came in at $1.84 billion in Q2, 20 per cent higher than the second quarter of 2017 and 4 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2018. During the quarter, total assets under supervision (3) increased $15 billion to $1.51 trillion. Long-term assets under supervision increased $5 billion, due to net inflows of $8 billion, spread across all asset classes. These net inflows were partially offset by net market depreciation of $3 billion, reflecting depreciation in fixed income assets, partially offset by appreciation in equity assets. Liquidity products increased $10 billion.

Bank of America
The Global Wealth & Investment Management arm of Bank of America, which includes entities such as US Trust and the Merrill Lynch arm, logged record revenue of nearly $9.6 billion in the first half of the year, up 3 per cent on a year ago. In the second quarter, revenue rose by 0.3 per cent on the previous year to $4.7 billion driven by higher asset management fees which more than offset lower transactional revenue and net interest income. Pre-tax margin held at 28 per cent. Net Income increased by $163 million or 20 per cent to nearly $1 billion; that figure takes account of the cut in federal taxes. There were $11 billion of assets under management inflows in the quarter, it continued. Referrals to and from GWIM with other areas of the company increased more than 19 per cent during the first half of 2018 compared to the first half of last year.

Morgan Stanley
Wealth management net revenues in the second quarter of this year came in at $4.325 billion, rising from $4.151 billion a year earlier, while pre-tax income also rose to $1.157 billion from $1.057 billion. Total client assets stood at $2.4 trillion; assets in fee-based accounts stood at $1.1 trillion. There were $15.3 billion of fee-based asset flows during the quarter. A total of 15,632 wealth management representatives produced average annualized revenue per rep. of $1.1 million. Investment management net revenues also chalked up a rise, standing at $691 million, up from $665 million from the second quarter of 2017.

Citigroup
Private bank revenues rose 7 per cent in the second quarter of this year from a year earlier to $848 million, driven by growth in clients, loans and investments, as well as improved deposit spreads. For the banking group as a whole, it reported Q2 net income $4.5 billion, or $1.63 per diluted share, on revenues of $18.5 billion. This compared to net income of $3.9 billion, or $1.28 per diluted share, on revenues of $18.2 billion for the second quarter 2017. Revenues at the bank rose 2 per cent from the prior-year period, driven by growth in both the institutional clients group and global consumer banking segments, partially offset by lower revenues in corporate/other due to the continued wind-down of legacy assets.

JP Morgan
The group’s asset and wealth management arm has reported a net income rise of 21 per cent in its second quarter 2018 results. It rose from $624 million in Q2 2017 to $755 million in the same period for 2018. The firm also logged a four per cent rise in its net revenue, which stood at $3.6 billion in Q2 2018. It said that this was driven by higher management fees on growth in long-term products and higher banking results. Its non-interest expense was reported at $2.6 billion, an increase of six per cent, largely driven by investments in technology and advisors, as well as higher external fees on revenue growth. The wealth arm’s assets under management stood at $2 trillion, up eight per cent from 2017. It was driven by net inflows into long-term and liquidity products, as well as higher market levels.

BNY Mellon
It reported a rise in net income for the second quarter of 2018 to $1.1 billion versus a $976 million a year ago although the amount dipped from the first three months of the year ($1.162 billion). The group, which provides various services to wealth managers as well as oversee investments, said free revenues in Q2 were $3.209 billion, up from $3.120 a year earlier, but dipped from $3.319 billion in Q1, 2018. One of the world’s largest custodian banks, assets under custody/administration stood at $33.6 trillion, a gain of 8 per cent because of rising markets and business growth. Assets under management were $1.8 trillion, a 2 per cent rise. Some weakness of the dollar versus sterling had a positive effect, although this was partly offset by the firm’s divestiture of CenterSquare Investment Management, outflows and other changes.

BNY Mellon’s investment services arm, which includes its Pershing business that works with wealth managers, logged pre-tax income in Q2 of $1.139 billion, up from $952 million a year earlier. Pershing’s average long-term mutual fund assets on its US platform stood at $512.645 billion in the latest quarter, up from $480 billion a year earlier. Investment management pre-tax income stood at $319 million, up from $288 million a year earlier, or up 11 per cent.

Northern Trust
The Chicago-headquartered firm reported second quarter net income per diluted common share of $1.68, compared to $1.12 in the second quarter of 2017 and $1.58 in the first quarter of 2018. Net income was $390.4 million, compared to $267.9 million in the prior-year quarter and $381.6 million in the prior quarter. Total revenue was $1.515 billion, a rise of 14 per cent year-on-year. The group had a total of $10.712 trillion of assets under custody and administration, up 15 per cent from end-June 2017.

BlackRock
Uncertainties about whether stocks can continue pushing higher and jitters about US trade protectionism dragged on flows into BlackRock in the second quarter. Net flows for Q2 2018 stood at $20.015 billion, down sharply from the $103.616 billion figure reported a year earlier. As far as long-term net inflows are concerned, North America delivered a result of $21 billion, Europe, Middle East and North Africa suffered a net outflow of $7.4 billion, and Asia was slightly positive, at $900 million for the quarter. As far as BlackRock’s own financial position is concerned, it logged net income of $1.073 billion in Q2, a 26 per cent year-on-year rise. Revenues rose 11 per cent to $3.605 billion in the quarter. Total assets under management stood at $6.316 trillion at the end of June this year, it said.

UBS
UBS Global Wealth Management reported a net profit before tax of SFr1.084 billion ($1.09 billion) in its Q2 2018 results, which is a rise of seven per cent year-on-year. The wealth arm’s operating income came in at SFr4.157 billion for second quarter 2018, a rise from SFr3.959 billion in 2017. The adjusted cost/income ratio was 74 per cent.  It reported net new money outflows of SFr1.2 billion for the quarter included seasonal tax-related outflows in the US of around SFr 4.6 billion and a single outflow of around SFr4.4 billion in the Americas from a corporate employee share programme. 
Adjusted net margin stood at 19 basis points. Overall, UBS logged an adjusted net profit before tax of SFr1.808 billion for Q2 18, which stood at SFr1.675 in 2017.

Credit Suisse
Across all segments of the bank, assets under management rose 7 per cent from the same quarter in 2017 to SFr1.398 trillion; there were SFr15.4 billion of net new assets (NNA), although this decelerated from the SFr25.1 billion NNA result in the first quarter of the year. Through the wealth management arm of the bank, there were net new assets of SFr23.5 billion in the first half of this year. 

Within the international wealth management division, pre-tax income rose 19 per cent year-on-year to SFr433 million, of which private banking, at SFr347 million, saw a 17 per cent rise. This division’s cost/income ratio was 67.4 per cent, tightening from 70.5 per cent a year before. Assets under management rose to SFr370.7 billion, up by SFr10.2 billion on a year earlier. Net new assets were SFr5.2 billion, faster than the SFr4.6 billion in NNA a year before although down from SFr5.5 billion in the previous three months.

The Swiss Universal Bank division of Credit Suisse reported pre-tax income of SFr553 million in the three months to end-June, up 10 per cent on a year earlier. The private clients part of this division saw PTI rise 21 per cent year-on-year to SFr268 million. The cost/income ratio narrowed to 58.6 per cent from 61.7 per cent a year earlier. There were SFr500 million of net new assets, decelerating from the SFr1.7 billion NNA figure a year before. Assets under management were SFr207.9 billion, up from SFr201.5 billion.

At the Asia-Pacific segment, pre-tax income rose 15 per cent year-on-year to SFr217 million. Within that figure, “wealth management & connected” logged SFr168 million in pre-tax income, dropping 14 per cent on the same second quarter of 2017. The cost/income ratio was 75.5 per cent, narrowing from 77.9 per cent a year before. The Asia-Pacific figures for assets under management (wealth management & connected – private banking) stood at SFr205.6 billion, a rise of 15.6 per cent. There were SFr3.4 billion in net new assets.
 

Julius Baer
It reported a 26 per cent rise in net profit to SFr444 million ($448 million) in its H1 2018 results, compared to the same period in 2017. Assets under management stood at SFr400 billion, up three per cent, from the end of 2017. Net new money came in at SFr10 billion, or over 5 per cent annualised, which is inside the firm’s 4–6 per cent target range. The number of relationship managers grew to 1,475, an increase of 94 compared to the end of June 2017. Gross margin remained unchanged at 91.5 basis points. Adjusted cost/income ratio increased from 69.1 per cent in H1 2017 to 67.3 per cent, inside the firm’s 64–68 per cent medium-term target range.

Vontobel
Vontobel, which reported a 31 per cent year-on-year rise in profits for the first six months of 2018, raised its profitability targets for wealth management, aiming to tighten its cost/income ratio to 70 per cent from 75 per cent. Group net profit grew SFr132.7 million ($133.4 million), up from SFr101.5 million in the first six months of 2017. The strongest driver of earnings came from asset management, delivering pre-tax income of SFr92.5 million (first half of 2017: SFr69.5 million). The combined wealth management arm, comprising wealth management and the external asset managers business, brought in a 46 per cent jump in pre-tax profit of SFr56.2 million. The financial products business generated another pre-tax profit of SFr51.9 million (first half of 2017: SFr51.5 million).

Deutsche Bank 
The lender’s global wealth arm reported a 23 per cent decrease year-on-year in profit before tax. Profit before tax stood at €338 million ($396 million) a year but now stands at €262 million in Q2 2018. The firm also logged that its wealth arm’s net revenue fell by 10 per cent from €523 million in Q2 2017 to €470 million. Revenues in the private and commercial business (international) came in at €376 million euros, 5 per cent lower year-on-year. The bank said this reflected the non-recurrence of a small gain on an asset sale in the prior year quarter. Overall, the group’s profit before tax was €711 million, down 13 per cent, and net income was €401 million, down 14 per cent year-on-year.

Commerzbank
The bank logged a net profit of €533 million for first half of 2018 (H1 2017: loss of €414 million); there was an operating profit of €389 million for the second quarter (Q2 2017: €179 million). Revenues excluding exceptional items rose 4 per cent year-on-year to €4,515 million (H1 2017: €4.335 billion), driven in particular by the Private and Small Business Customers segment.

Societe Generale
Assets under management at its private bank rose 2.6 per cent from the end of March to stand at €119 billion ($138.5 billion) at end-June this year. Asset and wealth management revenues totalled €257 million in Q2 18, down 5.2 per cent on the same quarter a year ago. Net banking income in the private banking space totalled €205 million, down six per cent vs the high level that was achieved last year, while the margin weighed in at 104 basis points vs. 110 basis points in Q2 17. For the first six months of this year, revenues totalled €390 million, down 6.7 per cent vs H1 17.

BNP Paribas
The bank reported that pre-tax income at its wealth and asset management arm slipped to €206 million ($241 million) in the three months to the end of June this year from €226 million a year earlier, but gained from €187 million in the previous quarter. Wealth and asset management revenues in Q2 were €834 million, up from €760 million a year ago. Operating expenses totalled €639 million, up 12.8 per cent from the second quarter of 2017; they also rose 10.9 per cent excluding specific transformation projects at asset management and costs related to the acquisition of Strutt & Parker at Real Estate Services.
In the first six months of this year, wealth and asset management’s revenues of €1.630 billion rose by 6.3 per cent compared to the first half 2017. Assets under management reached €1.060 trillion as at 30 June 2018 (+2.7 per cent compared to 30 June 2017), and up 0.9 per cent compared to 31 December 2017 with a good level of net asset inflows, at €13.4 billion, with strong net asset inflows at wealth management in particular in Asia, France and Italy.

Royal Bank of Scotland
The private banking arm of Royal Bank of Scotland, comprising Coutts and Adam & Co, reported an operating profit of £151 million ($196.5 million) for the first six months of 2018, surging by 85 per cent on a year earlier. The gain was driven by higher levels of client balances and income as well as cost cuts. Return on equity increased to 15.8 per cent, up by 8 per cent from a year before, RBS said in a statement on its results. Total income increased by £61 million, or 19 per cent, to £382 million compared to H1 2017 largely due to increased lending and assets under management. Operating costs, of £225 million, fell by £7 million, or 3 per cent, reflecting lower strategic costs, a reduction in back-office operations costs and a decrease in staff costs driven by a 17.5 per cent headcount reduction. RBS said that in its commercial and private banking arm, assets under management rose by £1.8 billion, or 9.3 per cent. Private banking oversees a further £7.2 billion of assets under management on behalf of RBS Group which sit outside of private banking. Total assets under management overseen by the private bank have increased by 7.1 per cent to £28.6 billion.
(Comparisons with prior periods are affected by the transfer of the Collective Investment Fund business from UK PBB and by the transfers of Coutts Crown Dependency and the International Client Group Jersey booked balances to RBS International.)

HSBC
The bank said private banking’s adjusted pre-tax profit for the half year to 30 June stood at $190 million, up from $144 million in the same period a year ago. In total, the UK/Hong Kong-listed group’s profit was $12.129 billion for the six-month period, down a touch from $12.364 billion. Private banking net operating income was $929 million, up from $874 million; its adjusted cost/income ratio was 80 per cent, tightening in from 83.4 per cent a year ago. Total operating costs at the private bank were $743 million in the half-year, from $729 million a year before. The private bank accounted for 1.6 per cent of its parent bank's adjusted profit in the latest reporting period, up from 1.2 per cent.

Barclays
Barclays posted drop in pre-tax profit of £1.659 billion ($2.2 billion) for the first six months of this year, a 13 per cent decline, while profit after tax relating to continued operations fell to £922 million from a year-ago figure of £1.563 billion. The bank, which no longer breaks out its wealth management figures in results, said, however, that its attributable profit was £468 million in H1, 2018, swinging back into the black after recording a £1.211 billion loss a year earlier.

The pre-tax profit included litigation and conduct charges of £2 billion mainly linked to a £1.4 billion settlement with US authorities over the sale of residential mortgage-backed securities and charges linked to compensating clients over sale of payment protection insurance. When those charges are stripped out, group profit before tax rose 20 per cent to £3.701 billion. The bank’s cost/income ratio widened to 80 per cent at the end of June this year, from 71 per cent in June last year.

Lloyds Banking Group

The wealth and insurance arm of Lloyds Banking Group logged an underlying profit of £480 million ($629 million) for the six months to the end of June, rising from £429 million a year earlier. This division of the bank said total costs for the six-month period narrowed to £559 million from £582 million, while total income rose to £1.039 billion from £1.011 billion over the 12-month period. Total customer assets under administration stood at £151 billion as at 30 June this year.

Looking across the banking group as a whole, which has returned to full private ownership after recovering from a post-bailout period in 2008, results showed the bank logged a statutory after-tax profit of £2.267 billion in H1, up 38 per cent year-on-year. Earnings per share, at 2.9 pence, rose 45 per cent.

The banking group reported a small pre-tax loss for the first six months of the year.

Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered, the UK-listed bank earning the lion’s share of its business in Asia and Africa, said its private banking business logged a pre-tax loss of $5 million in the six months to 30 June this year, widening from a loss of $1.0 million a year earlier. Income rose but higher costs pushed the number into the red. Among other details about the private bank, StanChart said underlying income of $271 million rose by 12 per cent, with wealth management and retail products rising 18 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. Assets under management increased by $5 billion or 8 per cent driven by positive market movements, and $1.6 billion of net new money came through the door.

DBS
The consumer banking and wealth management division of Singapore-listed DBS - which includes the private banking business - logged a 20 per cent rise in income for the first six months of this year versus a year ago, standing at S$2.76 billion ($2.02 billion). Growth in all product segments drove the higher income. Year-on-year income growth for consumer banking and wealth management, as well as investment banking, accelerated during the quarter. CBG/WM income rose 23 per cent to S$1.40 billion, faster than the 17 per cent increase in the first quarter, while IBG income grew 9 per cent to S$1.42 billion compared to a 3 per cent increase in the first quarter.

OCBC
The global consumer/private banking arm of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp, which includes the Bank of Singapore business, logged an operating profit after allowances and amortisation of S$699 million ($511.9 million) in the first half of this year, up from S$634 million a year earlier. In the second three months of this year, operating profit was S$330 million, up 3 per cent on a year earlier. The operating profit growth for both periods was driven by higher net interest income and fee income, partly offset by an increase in expenses. Quarter-on-quarter, operating profit fell by 10 per cent as net interest income growth was offset by a lower fee income and higher costs.

UOB
The bank logged net earnings of S$2.05 billion ($1.496 billion) for the first half of 2018, rising 24 per cent from the same six months of last year. Total income rose 10 per cent to S$4.57 billion, contributed by strong growth momentum in both net interest income and net fee and commission income, as well as lower allowances in a favourable operating environment. Net earnings for the second quarter of 2018 were S$1.08 billion, 28 per cent higher on a year earlier. The organisation’s funding position and capital base “remained strong”, it said. Deposits and gross loans grew 11 per cent and 10 per cent year on year to S$288 billion and S$250 billion, respectively, with the loan-to-deposit ratio at a healthy level of 85.7 per cent as at 30 June 2018.

RBC
Within wealth management, the bank said net income rose 19 per cent year-on-year to C$578 million, mainly driven by higher average fee-based assets in Canada and the US, mostly caused by positive equity market performance and client activity. Higher net income in the US was also driven by strong net interest income resulting from strong volume growth and higher interest rates, and a lower effective tax rate reflecting benefits from the tax reforms in the US enacted late last year.

CIBC
It reported a 20 per cent year-on-year rise in adjusted net income of C$1.399 billion in the three months to July 31. On a reported basis, net income rose 25 per cent to C$1.369 billion over the period.  Adjusted return on equity stood at 17.1 per cent in the quarter, against 17.3 per cent a year ago.

Results for the third quarter were negatively affected by a C$31 million (C$23 million after-tax) amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets; and C$9 million (C$7 million after-tax) in transaction and integration-related costs net of purchase accounting adjustments associated with the acquisitions of The PrivateBank and Geneva Advisors. (CIBC is also parent of Atlantic Trust, which it purchased in 2014.)

Canadian commercial banking and wealth management reported net income of C$350 million for the third quarter, up C$59 million from the third quarter a year ago, primarily driven by higher revenue. The increase in revenue was driven mainly by deposit and lending growth, higher fees and wider spreads in commercial banking, and higher client assets in wealth management. US commercial banking and wealth management reported net income of C$162 million for the third quarter, up C$121 million from the third quarter a year ago.

ABN AMRO
It reported a 28 per cent year-on-year fall in profit for the second quarter of this year at €688 million ($799 million), with last year’s quarter affected by proceeds by the divestment of its Asian private bank. Operating income fell 8 per cent at €2.288 billion in the second quarter, while its cost/income ratio widened a touch to 55.1 per cent from 54.9 per cent, it said in a statement. Return on average equity shrank to 13.5 per cent 20 per cent. At the end of June, the lender’s fully loaded CET1 ratio, a common measure of a bank’s capital buffer, was 18.3 per cent.