Morgan Stanley, the US banking giant, logged a year-on-year fall in profit at its wealth management arm, although profit in the segment was up on this year's first quarter.

Pre-tax income at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management dropped year-on-year but rose sequentially to $859 million at end-June 2016.

Pre-tax income was $885 million in the same period a year ago and $786 million in the previous quarter. Net revenues for Q2 2016 were $3.8 billion, down slightly from $3.9 billion a year ago. 

US-listed Morgan Stanley, which operates in regions such as Asia, logged group net revenues of $8.9 billion for Q2 2016, compared to $9.7 billion a year ago. 

Net income stood at $1.6 billion (or $0.75 per diluted share), down from $1.8 billion (or $0.85 per diluted share) year-on-year. Analysts had expected on average $0.60 a share, according to Bloomberg.

“Our results this quarter reflect solid performance in an improved but still fragile environment,” said James Gorman, chairman and chief executive at Morgan Stanley. “In the midst of market uncertainty, we maintained our leadership positions across our core franchises and continued our focus on prudent risk management and judicious expense control.”