Wells Fargo, the US bank that has bought rival Wachovia, said yesterday that its wealth management division’s net income more than doubled to $259 million in the first quarter of this year from $93 million.

Total revenue rose to $2.64 billion from $637 million a year before, Wells Fargo said in a statement yesterday.

At the client brokerage segment, client deposits fell by 5 per cent to $910 billion; private banking revenue rose by $257 million over the year, including a 57 per cent growth at the legacy Wells Fargo business, the firm said.

For Wells Fargo as a whole, its net income was $3.05 billion, or 56 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared to $2 billion, or 60 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Wells Fargo reported record quarterly revenue of $21.02 billion, up from $10.56 billion in the first quarter of 2008. In the latest quarter, Wachovia contributed $8.72 billion of total revenue.