Revenues at the wealth arm stood at $4.399 billion in Q3 2018, versus $4.220 billion a year before, the US-listed banking, investment and wealth management house said yesterday. The firm said its wealth management pre-tax margin was 27.1 per cent at the end of September, which it said reflected "continuing operating leverage".

Morgan Stanley's entire business has logged net revenues of $9.9 billion for the quarter, up from $9.2 billion a year earlier. Net income applicable to Morgan Stanley rose to $2.1 billion, up from $1.8 billion. Shares in the bank were up by 5.27 per cent around early afternoon US eastern time yesterday.

Asset management revenues of $2.6 billion increased from $2.4 billion a year ago reflecting higher asset levels and positive flows. Transactional revenues of $698 million decreased from $739 million a year ago driven by lower fixed income revenues. Net interest income of $1.1 billion increased by 4 per cent.

Compensation costs at the wealth busness for Q3, at $2.4 billion, increased from $2.3 billion a year ago on higher revenues. Non-compensation expenses of $790 million increased from $775 million a year ago reflecting continued investment in technology.

Total client assets were $2.5 trillion and client assets in fee-based accounts were $1.1 trillion at the end of the quarter.  Fee-based asset flows for the quarter were a positive $16.2 billion.  

A pool of 15,655 wealth management representatives produced average annualized revenue per representative of $1.1 million in the current quarter.