A summary of the main North America banks' financial results for the second quarter as they relate to wealth management and private banking.

As the third-quarter financial reporting season winds down, it is useful to be reminded of the second-quarter/half-year results' season. The results focus on the largest institutions which provide wealth management. 

Not all banks report on a calendar year schedule, and not all the institutions are alike, so the results from standalone institutions should be viewed differently from wealth management results embedded within a larger group. These results may be subsequently revised. Not all the banks reported on the same day. We hope readers find it useful to see these figures collated in one article and can make a few comparisons. To comment, email tom.burroughes@wealthbriefing.com

JP Morgan 
Q2 2024 net income rose to $1.26 billion from $1.23 billion in the previous quarter for the asset and wealth management arm. Net revenue rose to $2.252 billion from $4.943 billion. AuM rose 15 per cent to $3.7 trillion; total client assets rose 18 per cent to $5.4 trillion. 

Bank of America
The wealth and investment management arm reported a rise in its second-quarter net income to $1.026 billion from $978 million a year before. Total revenue rose to $5.574 billion from $5.242 billion. Noninterest expenses rose to $4.199 billion from $3.925 billion. Revenue growth was driven by a 14 per cent increase in asset management fees, helped by higher market levels and asset inflows, partly outweighed by a fall in net interest income. BoA had record client balances of over $4 trillion, up 10 per cent. 

In the second quarter, BoA’s wealth and investment business logged $11 billion in AuM inflows; average deposits, at $288 billion, fell by 3 per cent. On the private banking side, it reported record client balances of $640 billion, and in assets under management, balances of $385 billion.

Citigroup
It reported net income for the second quarter 2024 of $3.2 billion, on revenues of $20.1 billion, versus net income of $2.9 billion, on revenues of $19.4 billion for the same period a year earlier. The rise in net income was mainly caused by higher revenues and a fall in costs, partly offset by a higher cost of credit. At the private banking side, revenues rose 1 per cent year-on-year to $611 million in Q2. Across the whole of the wealth side of the bank, it had $540 billion in client investment assets, up 15 per cent on a year ago. Total wealth revenues rose 2 per cent to $1.8 billion.

Wells Fargo 
Second-quarter 2024 net income slipped 1 per cent year-on-year to $484 million, affected by a 10 per cent fall in net interest income, higher noninterest costs and provision for credit losses. The segment of the bank, which includes private banking, said noninterest income rose 12 per cent to $2.952 billion; net interest income fell to $906 million; noninterest expenses rose 7 per cent to $3.193 billion. Total client assets rose 10 per cent on a year ago to $2.2 trillion.

BNY 
The market and wealth services business segment logged total pre-tax income of $704 million, up 8 per cent; total revenue rose 6 per cent to $1.535 billion in the quarter. At the investment and wealth management business division, total revenue rose 1 per cent year-on-year to $821 million. Wealth management client assets stood at $308 billion, up 8 per cent on a year before.

Morgan Stanley 
The firm reported net revenues for the second quarter ended June 30, 2024 – reaching $15.0 billion compared with $13.5 billion a year ago. Net income applicable to Morgan Stanley was $3.1 billion, or $1.82 per diluted share, compared with net income of $2.2 billion, it said in a statement. 

Wealth management delivered a pre-tax margin of 26.8 per cent for the quarter. Net revenues were $6.8 billion on record asset management revenues driven by cumulative fee-based asset flows and a positive market environment. Fee-based asset flows were $26 billion for the quarter and $52 billion for the first half of the year. The wealth business added net new assets of $36 billion in the quarter and $131 billion in the first half of the year. Assets under management stood at $2.188 trillion at the end of June, rising from $1.856 trillion a year earlier.

Goldman Sachs 
The firm said net revenues in the second quarter of 2024 stood at $12.73 billion, rising 17 per cent from a year ago but down 10 per cent lower than the first quarter of 2024. The year-on-year revenue rise was the result of higher net revenues in the US firm’s global banking and markets and asset and wealth management business divisions. Net earnings for Q2 2024 stood at $3.043 billion, rising 150 per cent on a year earlier.

Asset and wealth management net revenues in Q2 were $3.88 billion, rising 27 per cent on a year ago and up 2 per cent on the preceding quarter. The revenue gain was propelled by net gains in equity investments compared with net losses in the prior year period, higher management and other fees and higher net revenues in debt investments, partially offset by lower net revenues in private banking and lending. 

The fall in private banking and lending net revenues reflected the impact of the sale of the Marcus loans portfolio in 2023 (including a gain of about $100 million related to the sale of substantially all of the remaining Marcus loans portfolio in the second quarter of 2023). Assets under supervision rose by $86 billion during the quarter to a record $2.93 trillion.