During the third quarter of this fiscal year, ending December 31 2014, revenue Canaccord Genuity Group's Wealth Management unit climbed 6.4 per cent, compared to the same quarter last year, to $58.2 million. The earnings made up 35 per cent of Canaccord Genuity Group's total revenue pool, a rise of 11.3 per cent over the last fiscal year.

During the third quarter of this fiscal year, ending 31 December 2014, revenue from Canaccord Genuity Group's wealth management unit climbed 6.4 per cent year-on-year, to $58.2 million. The earnings made up 35 per cent of Canaccord Genuity Group's total revenue pool, a rise of 11.3 per cent over the last fiscal year.

It proved a dependable division given the group's difficult third quarter. Canaccord's revenue as a whole plunged 28 per cent to $166.5 million, from $231 million in the same period last year. Even excluding significant expenses, the group recorded a loss per common share of $0.19 compared to diluted earnings per common share of $0.17.

The report comes just days after the company announced it would be cutting down its global capital markets' workforce by 4 per cent given current market conditions.

Further highlighting the steady growth of Canaccord's global wealth management operations was its $2.3 billion increase in assets under administration to $31.3 billion at the end of the quarter.

Canaccord Genuity Wealth Management increased its commission and fee revenue by $18.0 million from the same period last year. 

Year-to-date performance for the wealth management business was equally encouraging across the globe. North America saw the sharpest revenue increase – to $92.3 million during the nine months ending 31 December 2014, up $13.3 million from the same period in the previous year.

UK & Europe

UK and Europe proved consistent regions for the wealth management division, bringing in $30 million in revenue. This, excluding significant expenses, converted to a pre-tax income of $4.7 million, up 35 per cent from the same time last year. 

Assets under management here, including both discretionary and non-discretionary, were $20.3 billion at the end of the quarter.

Since fee-related accounts and portfolio management constitute the bulk of the company's activities in UK & Europe, wealth management operations were less susceptible to volatile market conditions. Fee-related revenue accounted for 69.1 per cent of the geography's total revenue in the third quarter.

In fact, higher revenue pushed up incentive compensation in these regions, by $1.1 million from the same period last year, to $10.8 million in this year's third quarter.

North America

Canaccord's North America unit earned $28.3 million in revenue for the quarter after intersegment allocations. This translated to a pre-tax loss of $1.8 million. However, pre-tax loss over the nine months ending 31 December 2014 fell by $9.1 million to hit $5.8 million, primarily due to the company's ongoing cost-reduction initiatives.

Meanwhile, in Canada, where the company is headquartered, discretionary assets under management rose 34.7 per cent to $1.4 billion.

Worth noting is November's launch of Global Portfolio Solutions across Canada. The new asset management platform aims to boost client investment in portfolios and subsequently build up assets under management in the coming years.

Group chief executive Paul Reynolds said in a note to shareholders that Canaccord will focus on driving its fee-based and discretionary accounts through further investment.

“The strength of our balance sheet and prudent management of capital resources give us confidence in our near-term ability to pursue aggressive growth for our UK wealth management business. With the exceptional leadership and solid infrastructure we have in place, our objective is to double our assets under management in the UK over the coming years, through organic growth and bolt-on acquisitions,” said Reynolds.