The profit year-on-year fall was affected by the “other noninterest income” result a year ago that had included several notable items, such as Northern Trust’s participation is the Visa Exchange Offer.

Client assets under custody and administration rose 9 per cent on a year ago to stand at $18.1 trillion at June 30; wealth management assets under custody rose 9 per cent, to $14.2 trillion, it said.

Assets under management rose 11 per cent to $1.697 trillion, reflecting mainly favorable markets.

“Northern Trust reported another quarter of strengthening results, featuring mid-single-digit trust fee growth, record net interest income, and meaningful expansion in our pretax margin, all of which drove a 20 per increase in our earnings per share, excluding notables in the prior period,” Michael O’Grady, chairman and CEO, said. “The second quarter marks our fourth consecutive quarter of generating year-over-year improvement in our expense-to-trust fee ratio and delivering both positive trust fee operating leverage and overall operating leverage, all excluding notables. During this period, we have also returned over 100 per cent of our earnings, including record share repurchases this quarter.

“Yesterday, our board of directors approved a $0.05 or 7 per cent increase to our quarterly dividend,” O’Grady added.

Shares in Northern Trust were down 1.8 per cent yesterday; since the start of January, they've risen 20.6 per cent.