Wells Fargo said net income at its wealth, brokerage and retirement division rose to $333 million in the three months to 30 June this year from $270 million a year ago, although the latest quarterly results represented a small dip from $339 million in the quarter ending 30 March.

Revenue was $3.1 billion, down 2 per cent from the first quarter of 2011, due to lower brokerage transaction revenue, but up 8 per cent from the second quarter of last year, driven by increased asset-based revenues and higher securities gains in the brokerage business. The provision for credit losses increased by $20 million from the first quarter of 2011 and dropped by $20 million from the second quarter of 2010.

The US's fourth largest bank is the latest financial institution to report results in recent days; most firms, such as JP Morgan, Bank of America and BNY Mellon have reported improved results for their wealth management businesses.

Within wealth management specifically, Wells Fargo's client assets stood at $204 billion, up by 8 per cent from the previous year; investment management and trust asset-based revenue gained by 8 per cent from the previous year. Across the whole wealth, brokerage and retirement segment, average assets stood at $147.7 billion at 30 June, up from $141 billion a year ago.

For the bank as a whole, Wells Fargo reported a second-quarter profit of $3.9 billion, or 70 cents a share, up from 55 cents a year earlier. The results were aided by a decline in loan losses. Second-quarter expenses fell by 2 per cent from a year earlier to $12.5 billion.