Here is a roundup of results for private banks around the world, giving fourth-quarter and full-year results for 2012.

Here is a summary of the results for the fourth quarter, and full-year, of 2012 for the world’s major wealth management firms. Not all of the institutions here are strictly comparable, so the results need to be interpreted with that point in mind. Some of the figures may, for various reasons, be subsequently revised.

UBS

Pre-tax operating profits at the wealth management arms fell in the fourth quarter of 2012 from the previous three-month period, while the firm overall reported a loss in the quarter but a full-year adjusted profit of SFr3.0 billion ($3.29 billion).

The quarterly loss had been expected after UBS in December last year was fined a total of more than $1.5 billion to settle charges of LIBOR interbank rate manipulation.The Q4 pre-tax loss was SFr1.823 billion, albeit narrower than the Q3 loss of SFr2.529 billion. The loss was primarily due to net charges for provisions for litigation, regulatory and similar matters of SFr2.081 billion as well as net restructuring charges of SFr258 million and an own credit loss on financial liabilities designated at fair value of SFr414 million.

For the whole of 2012, the wealth management businesses’ full-year net new money rose by SFr11.3 billion to SFr46.9 billion. As far as the whole of 2012 is concerned, USB logged an adjusted pre-tax profit of SFr2.1 billion in wealth management and SFr813 million in Wealth Management Americas.

Credit Suisse

The private banking and wealth management arm of Credit Suisse logged pre-tax income of SFr911 million (around $1.0 billion) in the fourth quarter of 2012, up sharply from SFr532 million a year before. Net revenues in this business segment, at SFr3.334 billion in Q4, were stable from the previous quarter of last year, reflecting a “significant” rise in transaction and performance-based revenues, offset by declines in other revenue sources, the bank said in a statement. Net interest income and recurring commissions and fees were flat.

Pre-tax income among the wealth management clients unit was SFr490 million, down 2 per cent on the previous quarter; net revenues were stable at SFr2.209 billion. On the asset management side, pre-tax income fell 18 per cent quarter-on-quarter to SFr183 million. There were net new assets in the private and wealth management arm of SFr6.8 billion in Q4, with wealth management clients contributing net new assets of SFr2.9 billion, particularly from emerging markets and from the ultra high net worth individual client segment, partially offset by outflows in Western Europe.

Julius Baer

Assets under management at the end of 2012 hit a record of SFr189 billion ($296.8 billion), a rise of 11 per cent over the previous 12 months as a result of stronger markets, SFr9.7 billion of net inflows and a slightly negative currency effect.

The Zurich-listed bank reported on its full-year figures for 2012 after announcing it had started the process of transferring assets acquired from the non-US wealth business it had acquired from Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Total assets under management, including assets under custody, rose by 7 per cent to SFr277 billion, it said in a statement. Operating income decreased by 1 per cent year-on-year to SFr1.737 billion, while average assets under management rose 8 per cent, resulting in a gross margin of 96 basis points (2011: 105bps). The lower gross margin was a direct consequence of a further reduction in client activity.

Adjusted operating expenses fell by 5 per cent to SFr1.216 billion as the expenses in 2011 included the one-off tax-related Germany payment of €50 million (SFr 65 million). Excluding the 2011 Germany payment, the adjusted operating expenses were flat. The bank said its adjusted cost/income ratio rose to 71 per cent (2011: 68 per cent).

Vontobel

Client assets stood at SFr150 billion ($164 billion) at the end of 2012, a 14 per cent rise, while it logged net inflows of new money of SFr8.6 billion, a year-on-year gain from 2011 when inflows were SFr8.2 billion. Net profit rose by 15 per cent year-on-year to SFr130.6 million, a result that the bank said was achieved despite “very low trading volumes on the capital markets and significant caution on the part of private clients”. The wealth and asset management businesses accounted for 67 per cent of the group’s pre-tax profit. At the end of last year, Vontobel had a BIS tier 1 capital ratio of 27.2 per cent.

EFG International

The Zurich-listed firm logged an underlying net profit of SFr142.5 million ($152.9 million) for 2012, a 71 per cent year-on-year increase, while its operating income rose 8 per cent to SFr824.6 million. Its cost-income ratio fell from 91.6 per cent in 2011 to 79.2 per cent. Revenue-generating assets under management stood at SFr78.7 billion at end-2012, up from SFr78.4 billion a year before; the firm logged net new assets of SFr3 billion, up from SFr600 million. At the end of last year, EFG International had a BIS capital ratio of 18.1 per cent, up from 12.9 per cent a year before.

Deutsche Bank

Impairments at the asset and wealth management arm of the bank meant the AWM unit logged a pre-tax loss in the final three months of 2012 of €260 million ($352.5 million), contrasting with income of €211 million a year before. The Frankfurt-listed bank’s AWM arm reported net revenues of €1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down from €1.272 billion in the same period last year. The cost-income ratio of this division surged to 123 per cent in Q4, up from 81 per cent a year earlier. Non-interest expenses rose by €403 million, or 42 per cent, compared to a year before, mainly driven by Scudder-related impairments of €202 million, IT-related impairments of €90 million as well as litigation related charges, partly offset by the aforementioned effects related to Abbey Life. In the private and business clients (PBC) unit, pre-tax income was €287 million, down from €325 million a year before. Net revenues fell to €2.403 billion from €2.578 billion a year earlier.

BNP Paribas

Assets under management at the investment solutions arm of BNP Paribas, the division including wealth management, stood at €889 billion ($1.378 trillion) at the end of 2012, a 5.6 per cent rise from the year before, as stronger financial markets pushed the figures higher. Within wealth management in particular, the Paris-listed firm said there were good inflows in domestic markets and in Asia in particular. Wealth management accounted for €265 billion of AuM at the end of last year, a gain of 8.6 per cent. Revenues in the wealth and asset management division stood at €6.204 billion in 2012, a 4.8 per cent increase year-on-year. Pre-tax income in this division was €2.098 billion, a gain of 16.3 per cent year-on-year. For the whole of BNP Paribas pre-tax net income was €10.372 billion in 2012, a gain of 7.5 per cent from the previous year; net income attributable to equity holders was €6.553 billion, up 8.3 per cent.

Looking ahead to strategy for this year, the French firm said its aims for the wealth and investment unit included a focus on ultra high net worth individuals in the private banking area.

Societe Generale

The private banking arm of Societe Generale logged a 1.5 per cent rise in assets under management at the end of December 2012, compared with a year before, with AuM standing at €86.1 billion (around $115.8 billion). The rise in assets included an inflow of €1.0 billion, a market effect of €2.6 billion, a negative foreign exchange impact of €400 million and a negative ”structure” effect of €2.0 billion. Against a backdrop of deleveraging, partially offset by margins holding up well, the business line’s revenues fell by 2.4 per cent year-on-year to €757 million. Operating expenses declined by -1.3 per cent to €624 million amid cost-saving measures.

ING Group

The firm reported an underlying net profit of €2.603 billion (around $3.511 billion) for 2012. This is down by 5.2 per cent on 2011.

Barclays

The wealth and investment management division of UK-listed Barclays logged an adjusted pre-tax profit of £115 million ($180 million) in the fourth quarter of 2012, almost double the level in the same three months of 2011, at £60 million. Barclays said it logged total income of £1.815 billion for the whole of 2012, a 4 per cent year-on-year gain; profit before tax for 2012 was £315 million, up by 52 per cent. The cost/income ratio of this division was 81 per cent at the end of December last year, down from 86 per cent a year before. Client assets rose by 13 per cent to £186 billion at the end of last year from £164.2 billion at the end of 2011, mainly driven by net new assets in high net worth businesses.

“This is another strong and pleasing set of results, which builds on the consistent trend established since the launch of our strategic investment programme, Gamma, in 2010.  In particular, the 13 per cent increase in client assets is indicative of the growing strength of our franchise, particularly in our global high net worth businesses, which have been the focus of our investment," Tom Kalaris, CEO of the division, said in a statement. Barclays had a Core Tier 1 ratio, as measured under the Basel bank capital rules, of 10.9 per cent at the end of last year.

Lloyds Banking Group

The wealth business logged an underlying profit of £358 million ($542 million) in 2012, up from £287 million a year earlier. The wealth business forms part of the wealth, asset finance and international arm at the bank. This division reported an underlying loss of £929 million in 2012, but this was far narrower than the £2.785 billion loss recorded a year before. Net interest income at this division of the bank was £799 million in 2012, it said in a statement today, compared with £1.0 billion in 2011.

Royal Bank of Scotland

The wealth management arm, which includes its flagship Coutts brand, reported an operating profit, before impairments, of £299 million ($453 million) last year, up from £273 million a year before. This part of RBS also reported impairment losses of £46 million, up from £25 million; total income over 2012 was £1.17 billion, up from £1.104 billion. The net interest margin was 3.73 per cent, up from 3.23 per cent.

HSBC

Pre-tax profits at the global private bank of HSBC rose by 7 per cent year-on-year to $1.01 billion, while this unit logged net operating income, before impairments, of $3.172 billion, down from $3.292 billion a year ago. On a constant currency basis, HSBC later told this publication, pre-tax profits rose by 8 per cent from 2011.

Standard Chartered

Private banking income rose by 12 per cent with around 4,000 new client accounts. The firm, which at the time of this publication’s press deadline gave few other details about its private bank, said the “high value segments” of the firm accounted for 46 per cent of group consumer banking income and 57 per cent of consumer banking income growth last year.

Schroders

Subdued market activity and some business outflows reduced net revenues at the private banking arm of the firm. Net revenue declined 17 per cent last year from 2011 to stand at £94.4 million ($141.7 million). The firm said that private banking net revenue was also affected by a further £7.9 million of loans losses on previously impaired loans, principally caused by the continued weakness in commercial property.

Private banking pre-tax profit was £11.8 million, down from £23.8 million in 2011. Costs fell by 9 per cent year-on-year to £82.6 million.

Bank of America

The firm’s global wealth and investment management division said net income for the final three months of 2012 rose sharply to $578 million, up from $272 million on the same period in 2011, while total revenues, net of interest costs, rose to $4.194 billion, up from $3.943 billion. The US banking and investment group, which has spun off its non-US wealth management arm to Swiss private bank Julius Baer, said client balances rose by 7 per cent to $2.17 trillion, driven by higher market levels and net inflows, driven by client activity in long-term AuM, deposits and loans.

Assets under management rose $62.5 billion from the fourth quarter of 2011 to $698.1 billion, driven by higher market levels and long-term asset flows. As far as results for all business divisions were concerned, BoA reported net income of $700 million, or $0.03 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $2.0 billion, or $0.15 per diluted share in the year-ago period. Revenue, net of interest expense and on a fully taxable-equivalent basis was $18.9 billion.

Fourth-quarter 2012 revenue, net of interest expense, on an FTE basis, excluding $0.7 billion of debit valuation and fair value option adjustments, was $19.6 billion; excluding $3.0 billion of provisions for representations and warranties and obligations related to mortgage insurance rescissions related to settlement agreements with the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), revenue net of interest expense, on an FTE basis, was $22.6 billion.

JP Morgan

Revenue from JP Morgan’s Private Banking division was $1.4 billion for the fourth quarter 2012, up by 19 per cent from the prior year, and flat compared to the previous quarter. Private banking is recorded under the firm’s asset management division, which as a whole reported net income of $483 million for Q4, up from $302 million for the same quarter 2011. This was on net revenue of $2.75 billion, compared to $2.28 billion in Q4 2011.

In asset management, provision for credit losses fell year-over-year from $24 million to $19 million in the final quarter, while non-interest expense rose from $1.75 billion to $1.94 billion. The rise in costs was due to performance-linked compensation and higher headcount. Institutional business revenue made up $729 million within asset management and retail made up $583 million, compared to the $1.4 billion from private banking revenue. Assets under management ended the year at $1.4 trillion. For the full year, net inflows were $60 billion to long-term products, offset by net outflows of $43 billion from liquidity products. For the quarter, net inflows were $32 billion reflecting net inflows of $24 billion to liquidity products and net inflows of $8 billion to long-term products.

Wells Fargo

Net income at Wells Fargo’s wealth, brokerage and retirement unit rose 13 per cent from $311 million in the final quarter of 2011 to $351 million at end-December, 2012.

For the final quarter, net income at the wealth, brokerage and retirement arm rose 4 per cent from $338 million, after the bank reported a $5 million decline in its third quarter earnings release.

Revenue ended 2012 at $3.1 billion, up by 2 per cent from fourth quarter of 2011 and roughly flat for the quarter ended 31 December. However, excluding $32 million in lower gains on deferred compensation plan investments, revenue was up 3 per cent “largely due to higher asset-based fees.” The wealth, brokerage and retirement division of Wells Fargo includes the Abbot Downing unit, which serves ultra high net worth individuals and families. At end-December, 2012, wealth management client assets stood at $204 billion, up 3 per cent on the prior year.

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs reported net revenues of $34.16 billion and net earnings of $7.48 billion for the year ended 31 December 2012, up from $28.8 billion and $4.4 billion respectively. Fourth quarter net revenues were $9.24 billion, up 11 per cent on the previous quarter and 53 per cent year-over-year. Net earnings ended the quarter at $2.89 billion, 91 per cent higher than at 30 September 2012 and up 185 per cent on the prior year. Net revenues in investment management were $5.22 billion for 2012, 4 per cent higher than 2011. This was due to “significantly higher” incentive fees, partially offset by lower transaction revenues and slightly lower management and other fees.

Morgan Stanley

The firm’s global wealth management group reported pre-tax income from continuing operations of $581 million in the fourth quarter of 2012, more than double the figure of $238 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. The quarter's pre-tax margin was 17 per cent, the US-listed firm reported late last Friday. Net revenues for the current quarter were $3.5 billion compared with $3.2 billion a year ago. Income after the non-controlling interest allocation to Citigroup and before taxes was $474 million.

Asset management fee revenues of $1.9 billion increased 16 per cent on a year ago, primarily reflecting an increase in fee-based assets and positive flows, Morgan Stanley said.

Transactional revenues of $1.1 billion decreased 3 per cent from a year before, reflecting reduced commissions and fees and a decrease in principal trading revenues driven by lower gains from investments associated with the firm's deferred compensation and co-investment plans, offset by higher investment banking revenues.

Total client assets were $1.8 trillion at the end of last year. Client assets in fee-based accounts were $573 billion, or 32 per cent of total client assets. Global fee-based asset flows for the fourth quarter were $3.7 billion.

BlackRock

Assets under management hit a record of $3.792 trillion at the end of 2012, a rise of 8 per cent from 2011, while the firm’s operating income and margins improved.

The firm, which among other services operates iShares, the largest provider of exchange-traded funds, reported full year diluted earnings per share of $13.79, up by 11 per cent from 2011. Revenues increased by 14 per cent in the fourth quarter from the same three months of 2011 and by 9 per cent from the previous three months of 2012, reflecting growth in markets, strength in base fees and higher performance fees.

DBS Group

Net profit in 2012, including divestment gains of S$450 million ($363.7 million), reached S3.81 billion. When gains are excluded, the bank's net profit rose to S$3.36 billion, a gain of 11 per cent from the previous year. Return on equity before the divestment gains rose to 11.2 per cent, the best in five years. Wealth management income rose 27 per cent year-on-year to S$786 million.

OCBC

The bank - parent of Bank of Singapore - reported a 73 per rise in net profit, after tax, in 2012 compared with the previous 12 months, with wealth management and loan revenues helping drive the results. OCBC as a group reported a net profit after tax of S$3.99 billion ($3.23 billion) for the financial year ended 31 December 2012, from S$2.31 billion in 2011. Core net profit after tax, which excludes gains from the divestment of non-core assets, grew 24 per cent over the year to a record S$2.83 billion. The results were driven by a combination of record net interest income, fee income and net trading income, as well as significantly higher contributions from Great Eastern Holdings.