PNC Advisors, the private banking business of US-based PNC Financial, saw profits fall in the first quarter of 2005 by 9.6 per cent year-on-...

PNC Advisors, the private banking business of US-based PNC Financial, saw profits fall in the first quarter of 2005 by 9.6 per cent year-on-year to $28 billion. The group said the first quarter 2004 profit figure was inflated because of a one-off gain from the sale of “certain investment consulting activities from the Hawthorn unit.” Assets under management at PNC Advisors totalled $49 billion at the end of the first quarter 2005, compared with $48 billion a year ago and $50 billion at the end of 2004. PNC Advisors gave no indication why there was a fall in assets under management quarter-on-quarter. PNC is in the process of buying troubled Riggs National Bank in a deal that was resuscitated after almost falling apart over differences concerning pricing. Riggs had a substantial private banking operation.