Client assets reached a record $402.4 billion, rising sharply in the second quarter from a year earlier.

St Louis-based Stifel Financial has reported record net revenues in its wealth arm of $637.6 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021, rising from $505.8 million a year before.

Pre-tax net income was $227.3 million compared with $156.3 million in the second quarter of 2020, the firm said in a statement.

The business added 26 advisors in Q2, with total trailing 12-month production of $12 million it said. Client assets reached a record $402.4 billion, rising 40 per cent on a year before. Within that figure, fee-based client assets also rose 40 per cent to $148.8 billion.

Total compensation costs rose, mainly driven by higher revenues. As with so many other banks, provision for credit losses last year - made amidst the outbreak of the pandemic – was reversed as economic conditions improved. Stifel made $19.2 billion in provisions for such losses last year, against a net release of $9.652 billion in the second quarter.

For the Stifel group as a whole, it reported net income available to common shareholders of $189.8 million, on net revenues of $1.2 billion for the three months ended June 30, 2021, compared with net income of $103.0 million on net revenues of $895.8 million.