Here is a collection of the latest interim and Q2 results from private banks and wealth management firms around the world.

Below is a summary of the private banking and wealth management second quarter 2015 results of firms covered by this publication in recent weeks. Not all of them are strictly comparable since some of the institutions are stand-alone institutions; others are part of larger organisations. Some of this information may be subsequently adjusted or revised. 

JP Morgan

Net income at JP Morgan rose 5 per cent year-on-year to $6.3 billion - or $1.54 a share - at 30 June 2015, while private banking client assets under management stood at $452 billion, up 18 per cent. Net revenue at JP Morgan was $24.5 billion, down 3 per cent, however. This was driven by lower mortgage banking revenue and lower corporate and investment banking markets revenue related to business simplification, partially offset by growth in asset management, the bank said. Private banking client assets were also up 3 per cent on the previous quarter (Q1 2015: $440 billion).

Wells Fargo
The wealth, brokerage and retirement arm of Wells Fargo reported that net income at 30 June of $602 million was up $58 million, or 11 per cent, from the second quarter of 2014. Revenues increased $189 million, or 5 per cent, from a year ago on growth in asset-based fees and net interest income, partially offset by lower gains on deferred compensation plan investments, the firm said. Meanwhile, wealth management client assets of $224 billion were up 2 per cent from the prior year, as were IRA assets, which stood at $365 billion.

Citigroup 
Private banking revenues at Citigroup rose by 13 per cent to $746 million at 30 June 2015, from the prior-year period, driven by higher loan and deposit balances and growth in investments and capital markets products. Private banking revenues were also up by 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter from $708 million at end-March 2015.

BNY Mellon 
BNY Mellon reported that total revenue from its investment management operations was $1.0 billion at 30 June, down 3 per cent year-over-year and 1 per cent sequentially. Revenue from wealth management rose, however. The year-over-year decrease primarily reflects the unfavourable impact of a stronger US dollar and lower performance fees, partially offset by the impact of the first quarter 2015 acquisition of Cutwater and strategic initiatives, the firm said. Both decreases also reflect lower seed capital gains, partially offset by higher equity market value, it added.

Assets under management were $1.72 trillion at 30 June 2015, an increase of 5 per cent year-over-year and a decrease of 1 per cent sequentially. The year-over-year increase primarily resulted from higher market values, net new business and the Cutwater acquisition, partially offset by the unfavourable impact of a stronger US dollar. Revenue from wealth management was $161 million for the second quarter of this year, up 3 per cent from $156 million a year ago and $158 million in the previous quarter.

Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley reported wealth management pre-tax income from continuing operations of $885 million at end-June, compared with $763 million a year ago. The quarter’s pre-tax margin in wealth management was 23 per cent and net revenues were $3.9 billion, up from $3.7 billion in Q2 2014. Asset management fee revenues of $2.2 billion meanwhile had increased from $2.1 billion a year ago, which the firm said reflects a spike in fee-based assets and positive flows.

Goldman Sachs 
Goldman Sachs reported net revenues in investment management of $1.65 billion for the second quarter of 2015, 14 per cent higher than the second quarter of 2014 and 4 per cent higher than the first quarter of 2015. The increase in investment management net revenues compared with the second quarter of 2014 was due to significantly higher incentive fees, as well as higher management, other fees, and transaction revenues. Goldman Sachs Group reported net revenues of $9.07 billion (down 1 per cent year-on-year), net earnings of $1.05 billion (down 49 per cent year-on-year) and diluted earnings per common share of $1.98 for the second quarter ended 30 June 2015.

Northern Trust
Wealth management assets under management were $232 billion at 30 June, up 4 per cent year-on-year, while wealth management trust, investment and other servicing fees totalled $324.8 million, increasing by $13.3 million, or 4 per cent, from $311.5 million in Q2 2014.

Charles Schwab
The firm reported a 9 per cent year-on-year rise in net income for the second quarter of this year, reaching $353 million, also up 17 per cent from the first three months of this year. Financial results for the second quarter and first six months of 2015 include litigation proceeds of about $17 million (included in “other” revenue) relating to the company’s non-agency residential mortgage-backed securities portfolio; this increased earnings per share by $0.01. The firm gathered $37.0 billion of core net new assets, the highest second quarter in the firm’s history, and maintained a 6 per cent annualised organic growth rate despite seasonal tax outflows in April. Clients opened 280,000 new brokerage accounts, up 16 per cent year-over-year and another second-quarter record. Total client assets were $2.54 trillion at quarter-end, up 6 per cent from a year ago. Client assets under the guidance of a registered independent advisor or enrolled in one of its retail or other advisory solutions also rose 6 per cent year-over-year, to $1.26 trillion. 

At the end of June, the firm served 9.6 million brokerage accounts, 1.0 million banking accounts, and 1.5 million retirement plan participants, up 4 per cent, 6 per cent and 10 per cent respectively from the second quarter of 2014.

Bank of America 
Net income at the global wealth and investment management division was $690 million at 30 June, down from $726 million a year ago - a drop of around 5 per cent - said the firm, which as a group more than doubled its profit. GWIM revenue was relatively stable at $4.6 billion, as a 9 per cent rise in asset management fees and higher net interest income from loan growth were offset by the impact of BoA's allocation of ALM (asset liability management) activities on net interest income, and lower transactional revenue.

Meanwhile, non-interest expense of $3.5 billion was relatively unchanged compared to the year-ago quarter due to greater personnel costs that were driven by, among other factors, investment in client-facing professionals. The provision for credit losses increased $23 million from the year-ago quarter to $15 million.

Business highlights at BoA's GWIM business included that total client balances grew by $53.5 billion from the year-ago quarter to over $2.5 trillion; Q2 2015 long-term AuM flows of $8.6 billion were the 24th consecutive quarter of positive flows; AuM fees rose 9 per cent from Q2 2014 to $2.1 billion; and the number of wealth advisors increased by 1,077 from the year-ago quarter to 17,798. Meanwhile, total revenue at US Trust was $764 million, a quarter-on-quarter increase of $13 million, or 1.7 per cent. Client balances of $389 billion in this unit were up by $9 billion year-on-year.

BlackRock
BlackRock pushed its net income up a marginal 1 per cent year-on-year to $819 million in the second quarter of 2015, despite suffering an overall net outflow. Long-term net inflows of $17.5 billion in the Americas were offset by net outflows of $24.1 billion and $0.7 billion from clients in EMEA and Asia-Pacific, respectively. Overall, long-term net outflows reached $7.3 billion at the end of the quarter.

Although assets under management crept up 3 per cent year-on-year to $4.72 trillion at the end of the three months, this was a 1 per cent dip from the previous quarter. The company said seasonal outflows weighed its cash management assets down by 7 per cent, while advisory assets under management slid $5.2 billion to $12.9 billion.

UBS
In its wealth management arm (excluding the Americas), the Zurich-listed firm reported an operating profit before tax of SFr756 million ($788.6 million), down from SFr951 million in the previous quarter but up sharply from SFr355 million a year earlier. In its Americas business, when measured in dollars, pre-tax operating profit was $205 million, down from $268 million in the previous quarter and $238 million a year earlier. In Swiss francs, pre-tax income at the Americas business was SFr191 million, down from SFr253 million in Q1 and SFr211 million in Q2, 2014.

UBS said its wealth management (excluding Americas) business had a cost/income ratio in Q2 2015 of 63.6, wider than the 57.7 per cent position in Q1 but narrower than the 81.6 per cent reading a year earlier. Net new money growth was 3.5 per cent in the latest quarter, decelerating from 4.8 per cent a year ago. It had a gross margin on invested assets of 87 per cent, up from 84 per cent a year ago. On a regional basis, wealth management (excluding Americas) logged an adjusted SFr4.5 billion of net new money in Asia-Pacific, ahead of SFr2.4 billion in Switzerland, SFr1.8 billion for Europe, and SFr100 million for emerging Europe. Ultra high net worth business accounted for SFr7.1 billion of this net new money, it said. Client assets stood at SFr1.115 trillion, down from $1.142 trillion at the end of March this year. Within the Americas wealth business, the cost/income ratio widened, on a dollar-denominated basis, to 89.5 per cent from 87.4 per cent a year earlier; there was a decline of 0.3 per cent in net new money growth; the gross margin on invested assets was 74 per cent. 

Client assets in the Americas business stood at $1.099 trillion at the end of June this year, from $1.073 trillion a year ago. When all of its wealth management businesses are combined, the Swiss firm had net new money growth in Q1 of 1.5 per cent. Total invested assets at UBS at the end of the quarter were $2.628 trillion.

Julius Baer
The surge in the value of the Swiss franc at the start of this year offset some of the impact on the bank of inflows and rising market values, with total assets under management standing at SFr284 billion ($295 billion) at the end of June, a 2 per cent dip from end-2014. There was a positive contribution from net new money of SFr6 billion from the effect of market gains and client inflows, as well as the transfer of assets from Leumi Private Bank. It also agreed to acquire a 40 per cent participation in the Mexican independent financial advisory firm NSC Asesores for an undisclosed amount. The transaction would mark Julius Baer’s entry into the second largest wealth management market in Latin America.

Vontobel
The firm enjoyed a 33 per cent rise in net profit to SFr97.8 million ($102.3 million) in the first half of the year, thanks to “good income growth as well as rigorous cost discipline”. The bank said the growth came in spite of considerable foreign exchange headwinds. It generated net new money of SFr6.4 billion over the six-month period and reached a record SFr142.2 billion in advised client assets, up 15 per cent from a year ago and 4 per cent from the end of 2014. Total assets however dipped 6 per cent, or SFr17.3 billion. The half-year saw Vontobel complete the acquisition of a majority stake in London-based TwentyFour Asset Management. It said assets under management at the fixed income boutique had jumped over 70 per cent since the start of the year to SFr18.3 billion. 

Credit Suisse
The bank's private banking and wealth management arm reported pre-tax income of SFr937 million ($977 million) in the second quarter of 2015, a quarter-on-quarter gain of 12 per cent and a recovery from a loss of SFr749 million a year ago. Net revenues for the private banking and wealth management unit stood at SFr3.152 billion in the quarter, up from SFr2.972 billion in the first three months of the year and up from SFr3.046 billion a year ago. Total operating costs at Switzerland's second-largest bank rose 3 per cent quarter-on-quarter to SFr2.171 billion. Assets under management fell slightly over the quarter, down 1.3 per cent to SFr1.355 billion at the end of June; the bank booked SFr14.2 billion in net new money in Q2, against SFr17 billion in the previous quarter but up from SFr10.1 billion a year ago. (While the bank did not go into the detail in its results statement as far as this publication could discern, it is possible that the adverse impact of a stronger Swiss franc exchange rate since the start of this year may have affected AuM figures overall.) The cost/income ratio of this unit of the bank improved considerably over the year as it swung back into profit, with a ratio of 68.9 per cent, narrowing from 71 per cent in the first quarter, and 123.8 per cent 12 months ago.

Since the end of 2013, Credit Suisse has separately disclosed its strategic and non-strategic results in addition to its reported results. The strategic results encompass the businesses that Credit Suisse plans to focus on going forward, while the non-strategic results include the ones that it intends to wind down or exit. As far as its “strategic results” are concerned, the firm said it logged a gain in pre-tax income in the second quarter, standing at SFr1.001 billion, a quarterly gain of 1 per cent; net revenues of SFr3.091 billion, up 4 per cent, and a cost/income ratio of 66.6 per cent, down from 67.6 per cent in the previous quarter. Net new assets on this strategic basis were SFr15.4 billion. The bank said that wealth management clients contributed net new assets of SFr9.0 billion with continued “strong inflows from Asia-Pacific, driven by Greater China, and a solid contribution from Switzerland and Europe, Middle East and Africa". Net asset inflows in Switzerland benefited from “good momentum” in the ultra-high net worth individual client segment. 

EFG International 
The firm reported a 12 per cent year-on-year drop in underlying net profit, at SFr51 million ($52.9 million) in the first six months of 2015, as the firm extended its withdrawal from some lending activity and due to more difficult market conditions in the second quarter of the year. Operating income was SFr353.0 million, up 3 per cent from a year earlier. The revenue margin was 87 basis points in the first half of the year, compared with 88 bps in the first half of last year. Operating expenses increased 7 per cent year-on-year to SFr296.0 million, reflecting investments in growth. The cost-income ratio was 83.3 per cent in the first half of 2015 (80.2 per cent in the first half of 2014).

Barclays 
The UK bank reported an 11 per cent year-on-year rise in group adjusted pre-tax profit to £3.729 billion ($5.82 billion) in the first six months of 2015, which it said reflected better results in all of its core operating businesses. The bank’s wealth and investment management arm is contained within the personal and corporate banking (PCB) division; Barclays no longer issues specific financial results on its wealth business following corporate restructuring last year. As far as PCB is concerned, that segment of the bank reported pre-tax profit of £1.528 billion, a 4 per cent year-on-year rise. Client assets stood at £142.6 billion, down from £151.3 billion at the end of June a year ago. In early June this year, the bank announced it had agreed to sell its US wealth management business to Stifel Financial Corp.

DBS Group
The Singapore-headquartered bank achieved a record S$2.39 billion ($1.75 billion) in net profit for the first half of the year, thanks in part to momentum in its wealth management business. Income at the group's wealth management customer segment jumped 41 per cent to a record S$743 million, as assets under management rose 22 per cent to S$143 billion. The half-year saw a 34 per cent increase in wealth management fees to S$342 million, which helped drive the group's net fee income up 13 per cent to S$1.14 billion. DBS's first-half total income crossed the S$5 billion mark for the first time as it reached S$5.43 billion at the end of June.

BNP Paribas

Pre-tax income at the wealth and asset management arm of the firm rose to €186 million ($203.6 million) in the second quarter of 2015 from €170 million in the previous three months, but down from €212 million in the same period a year ago. Revenues for this segment of the bank stood at €766 million, up from €723 million in Q1 and €726 million a year earlier.

Operating costs and depreciation in Q1 were €579 million, up from €563 million in the previous quarter. Within insurance, wealth and asset management, BNP Paribas said assets under management stood at €949 million, up 10.2 per cent year-on-year, at 30 June, boosted by improved financial markets and by the impact of a weaker euro exchange rate.

Deutsche Bank
Net revenues at Deutsche Bank's asset and wealth management arm grew 25 per cent year-on-year to €1.4 billion ($2.2 billion) in the second quarter of this year. Deutsche AWM's pre-tax income soared 107 per cent from the corresponding quarter of last year to €422 million over the three months. The bank said the growth was broad based across product categories, with positive contributions from management fees, performance and transaction fees and net interest income compared to a year ago. Deutsche AWM's 6 per cent year-on-year rise in non-interest expenses to €1 billion was driven by foreign exchange movements, higher revenue and business volume related costs as well as higher litigation costs. Compensation costs from regulatory and strategic hiring also contributed to the increase.

Schroders
Pre-tax profit rose 24 per cent year-on-year to £290.3 million ($453.3 million) in the first half of the year despite a £9.9 billion dip in assets under management from the end of 2014. The fall from £309.9 billion in assets under management at the end of December to £300 billion at the end of June was attributed to a stronger sterling in the second quarter. Year-on-year though, total assets under management grew 14 per cent.
Schroders said it benefitted from the strength of its international business and the diversity of its product range. Net revenue for the half-year reached £806.2 million, up 11 per cent from the first half of 2014.

HSBC
The global private banking arm reported pre-tax profits of $180 million in the six months to 30 June, against $364 million for the same period a year ago, while pre-tax profits for the entire Hong Kong/London-listed group were $13.628 billion, up from $12.34 billion. Net interest income was $454 million, against $536 million for the same half-year period a year earlier; net operating income was $1.172 billion, down from $1.224 billion  a year before.

Client assets at the private banking segment stood at $370 billion, down from $384 billion at the end of June 2014. Assets under management at the private bank were $280 billion, down from $286 billion at 30 June 2015. The private bank logged $3 billion of net new money. The private bank had a cost/efficiency ratio of 85 per cent.

Societe Generale

The private banking arm reported that assets under management stood at €116.5 billion ($126.6 billion) at the end of June this year, a gain of 0.7 per cent from the same date last year amid positive net inflows and favourable market movements. Net banking income rose 11.0 per cent in the half-year period from a year earlier, to €440 million.

The gross margin of this business was 110 basis points at the end of June this year. Within asset and wealth management as a whole, net banking income was €556 million in the first half of 2015, a 9 per cent rise on a year ago.

OCBC

Singapore-headquartered OCBC generated a record S$1.28 billion ($935 million) from its wealth management business, which includes private banking and asset management, over the first half of the year. Wealth management income was up 11 per cent from S$1.15 billion a year ago and made up 29 per cent of OCBC's total income for the half-year. The group's private banking business, which operates through subsidiary Bank of Singapore, grew assets under management by 6 per cent year-on-year to $54 billion at the end of June.

Manulife

Manulife Financial Corporation, the Canada-headquartered group that offers wealth management services to regions such as Asia, reported net income attributed to shareholders of C$600 million ($456.6 million) for the second quarter of 2015, down from $943 million a year earlier. The fall was mainly caused by the impact of a changing interest rates yield curve and the cost of integrating recently acquired businesses.

Core earnings, it said, were C$902 million, up by C$201 million from a year earlier. On the wealth and asset management side, Manulife said it generated net wealth flows of C$14.5 billion, more than double second quarter 2014 levels. Gross flows were C$34.9 billion, up 74 per cent from Q2 2014 (up 61 per cent when recently acquired business effects are taken out).