Total global wealth management client assets at the Wall Street titan stood at $1.7 trillion on 31 March, around a third of which were in fee-based accounts, up from $1.6 trillion at the end of last year. Morgan Stanley said that it saw global fee-based asset flows of $8.7 billion in the global wealth management segment during the quarter compared with $17.5 billion in the first quarter of 2011.

The global wealth management group also logged revenues of $3.4 billion, in line with the first quarter last year, but up from $3.2 billion in the final quarter of 2011.

Mediobanca Securities, the Italian investment bank, dubbed the results “a very good start to the year” for Morgan Stanley, but retained a neutral rating, citing the fact that global wealth management is still in integration mode as part of the reason. Morgan Stanley bought a majority stake in Smith Barney from Citigroup in 2009.

Across its divisions, Morgan Stanley made a loss from continuing operations before tax of $312 million, a significant improvement from the $778 million loss for the final quarter of 2011. However, the firm made a profit of $432 million in the first quarter of last year.

The firm’s asset management arm reported net revenues of $533 million, down from $622 million in the same period of 2011, but up from $424 million in the fourth quarter of last year.