Meanwhile, the overall US-listed banking giant logged net income of $3.7 billion for the quarter, a fall from $4.8 billion for the same three months of 2010.

The firm, the first of the major financial institutions to unveil its quarterly results, gave few other specific numbers on the performance of its private bank in its results statement, however.

The private banking figures were grouped under the “asset management” segment of JP Morgan. Besides the private bank revenues, JP Morgan noted that revenue from institutional business fell 17 per cent year-on-year to $558 million; revenue from its retail asset management business fell 9 per cent, to $514 million in the quarter.

Assets under supervision were $1.9 trillion, an increase of $81 billion, or 4 per cent, from the prior year. Assets under management were $1.3 trillion, an increase of $38 billion, or 3 per cent, from the prior year.

Both increases were due to net inflows to long-term and liquidity products, partially offset by the impact of lower market levels. Custody, brokerage, administration and deposit balances were $585 billion, up by $43 billion, or 8 per cent, due to deposit and custody inflows, the bank said.

Among other figures, JP Morgan said its asset management arm added 160 private bank client advisors in 2011. This was despite the 40 per cent fall in net income year-on-year, to $302 million, a decrease of $205 million. “These results reflected lower net revenue, partially offset by lower noninterest expense,” it said.

The bank had a Basel I Tier 1 Common ratio of 10 per cent at the end of last year, up from  9.9 per cent at the end of September. In total, JP Morgan employed 260,157 staff at the end of December, a rise of 8 per cent.