A summary of the main North America banks' financial results for the fourth quarter of 2024, and for the full year when disclosed, as they relate to wealth management and private banking.

(Updates with RBC, OCBC and CIBC results.)

The results focus on the largest institutions which provide wealth management. Not all banks report on a calendar year schedule, or on the same day, and not all the institutions are alike, so the results from standalone institutions should be viewed differently from wealth management results embedded within a larger group. These results may be subsequently revised. We hope readers find it useful to see these figures collated in one article and can make a few comparisons.

We have removed currency conversions to the US dollar because the exchange rate may have changed since the figures were initially released.

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Goldman Sachs 
The asset and wealth management business arm reported a16 per cent year-on-year rise in net revenues to $16.14 billion for the year ending 31 December 2024. Within a total net revenue figure of $53.5 billion (rising 16 per cent) for the whole of Goldman Sachs, some $34.5 billion was in the Americas – or 64 per cent of the total, $12.25 billion was in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (23 per cent), and $6.814 billion was in Asia (13 per cent). The rise in asset and wealth management was mainly caused by higher equity investment revenues and higher management and other fees

Citigroup
The wealth arm of Citigroup, which includes its private bank as well as the Wealth at Work and Citigold business lines, reported fourth-quarter 2024 net income of $334 million, up from $21 million a year before. For 2024, it stood at $1 billion, rising 139 per cent year-on-year. Revenues at the wealth business rose 20 per cent year-on-year to $2 billion; in 2024, they rose 7 per cent to $7.512 billion. Total operating costs fell 3 per cent to $1.57 billion on a year ago. Net credit losses fell 3 per cent to $30 million. Private bank revenues rose 9 per cent year-on-year to $590 million, mainly as a result of higher deposit spreads and higher investment fee revenues, partly offset by higher mortgage funding costs. 

Morgan Stanley
The wealth management arm reported a rise in net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2024 and the whole of that year. Q4 revenue rose to $7.478 billion from $6.645 billion a year before. For 2024, net revenue rose to $28.42 billion from ÂŁ26.268 billion. Fee-based client assets stood at $2.347 trillion at the end of December 2024, from $1.983 trillion a year before. Net new assets rose to $56.5 billion in Q4 2024, up from $47.5 billion a year earlier. For all of 2024, net new assets were $251 billion, down from $282 billion in 2023.

Bank of America
The global wealth and investment management arm logged a year-on-year gain in net income at $1.171 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, driven by a rise in net revenue of $6 billion from $5.23 billion a year earlier. Noninterest expenses in its wealth and investment business rose to $4.438 billion from $3.894 billion. There was a small ($3 million) provision against credit losses, against a net $26 benefit in Q4 2023. The rise in revenue was driven by a 23 per cent rise in asset management fees. Total client balances rose 12 per cent to $4.3 trillion; in Q4, assets under management flows were $22 billion, with $79 billion since the fourth quarter of 2023.

Inside its Bank of America Private Bank, AuM balances stood at $404 billion; and total client balances were $674 billion, with 720 net new relationships added in Q4 2024. The Merrill Wealth Management business held $1.5 trillion in AuM balances, and 3,900 net new households were added in the last quarter.

BNY 
The market and wealth services arm logged a 28 per cent year-on-year rise in pre-tax income in the fourth quarter of 2024, reaching $806 million. This was driven by a rise in total venue from $1.496 billion to $1.667 billion. Noninterest expense rose slightly on a year ago, to $852 million in Q4 2024.

Within its business lines, the Pershing business reported a 5 per cent rise in total revenue to $705 million. The rise in Pershing’s revenue stemmed from higher market values and client activity, partly offset by a drop in net interest income. Inside its securities services business segments, total investment services fees rose 6 per cent year-on-year to $1.34 billion. Pre-tax income surged 39 per cent to $643 million. At the end of 2024, assets under custody/administration stood at $37.7 trillion, a rise of 10 per cent from the end of 2023.

Wells Fargo
Its wealth and investment management business, which includes its private banking arm, reported net income in the fourth quarter of 2024 of $508 million, up from $491 million a year before. Total revenue in this part of the California-headquartered bank was driven by revenues of $3.958 billion in Q4, versus $3.66 billion a year earlier. Noninterest costs rose 9 per cent year-on-year to $3.307 billion. Provision for credit losses widened to $27 million from $19 million. Total client assets stood at $2.293 trillion at the end of December 2024, up from $2.084 trillion a year earlier.

Northern Trust
Net income at Northern Trust rose sharply in Q4 2024 to $455.4 million compared with $113.1 million a year earlier. Total revenue dipped to $1.97 billion from $1.975 billion. Trust, investment and other servicing fees rose on a year earlier. Total assets under management rose 12 per cent at the end of 2024 from a year before, reaching $1.61 trillion. Within that figure, wealth management AuM was $450.7 billion, up 12 per cent; asset servicing AuM rose to $1.159 trillion, also up 12 per cent. 

UBS
The global wealth management arm logged a 10 per cent year-on-year rise in total revenue for the fourth quarter of 2024, at $6.121 billion. The rise was largely caused by higher recurring net fee income. There were net credit loss releases of $14 million up from $8 million on a year before. Operating costs fell by $14 million to $5.268 billion and included a $42 million fall in integration-related expenses. The wealth management arm’s cost/income ratio was 86.1 per cent, or 80.9 per cent on an underlying basis. Invested assets slipped on a sequential basis by $77 billion to $4.182 trillion and the firm logged $17.7 billion in net new assets in the quarter, and $97 billion for all of 2024. Across all of UBS’s business lines, invested assets were $6.1 trillion, rising 7 per cent on a year earlier.

Deutsche Bank 
Private Bank net revenues eased 2 per cent in 2024 from a year ago, to €9.4 billion. In the fourth quarter, private bank net revenues were €2.4 billion, down 1 per cent on the prior year quarter. Growth in investment products, reflecting the private bank’s strategy of growing noninterest income, was more than offset in 2024 by a 6 per cent decline in net interest income, which reflected the impact of higher hedging and funding costs.

Personal banking revenues fell 5 per cent in 2024 year-on-year to €5.3 billion, as growth in deposit revenues was more than offset by the aforementioned rise in hedging and funding costs. Revenues in wealth management and private banking rose 2 per cent on a year earlier to €4.1 billion, as growth in both lending and investment products more than offset a fall in deposit revenues. Assets under management rose to €633 billion, their highest ever level and €55 billion higher than at the end of 2023, driven partly by net inflows of €29 billion.

BNP Paribas
Wealth management revenues rose 10.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2024 from where they were a year before, while assets under management among high net worth clients and the commercial and personal banking side also rose. AuM was propelled by rising inflows during 2024 – €29.7 billion – and rising markets. In total, wealth management AuM stood at €628 billion at the end of 2024. 

“Wealth management achieved good net asset inflows (€3.1 billion Q4 2024), particularly in Asia and Germany. On the year, asset inflows were very strong in all geographies (€29.7 billion) and assets under management increased, supported by market gains,” BNP Paribas said. There was an inflow rate of 7.2 per cent last year. Transaction fees rose across all geographies.

Commerzbank
The bank  reported a pre-tax profit of €3.833 billion for 2024, a gain of 12.7 per cent on a year before. The net result, after taxes and other factors, was €2.7 billion, rising 20.2 per cent. It said it  aims to accelerate profits growth, with a “strategic focus” on expanding its wealth and asset management businesses, and in its corporate clients area.

Barclays
Total income at its private bank and wealth management arm rose 12 per cent year-on-year in Q4 2024 to ÂŁ351 million; for the whole year, it rose 8 per cent to ÂŁ1.309 billion. This business division logged an attributable profit in Q4 2024 of ÂŁ63 million, a gain of 34 per cent; it fell 13 per cent for 2024, to ÂŁ288 million. The cost/income ratio in Q4 2024 was 75 per cent, narrowing from 82 per cent. Return on average allocated tangible equity dipped to 19.1 per cent from 23.9 per cent.

Invested assets (under management and supervision) rose to ÂŁ124.6 billion at the end of last year, rising from ÂŁ108.8 billion, Barclays said. Results were buoyed by an inflow of new client balances across deposits, lending and investments. Rising markets also helped drive results.

Coutts
It reported a slip in 2024 operating profit, coming in at ÂŁ264 million, down from ÂŁ291 million in 2023. Total income rose to ÂŁ969 million from ÂŁ990 million; operating expenses rose over the year to ÂŁ716 million from ÂŁ685 million.

Assets under management/administration balances stood at ÂŁ48.9 billion rising 19.9 per cent on a year earlier. Net inflows were ÂŁ3.2 million in 2024. Total assets under management rose to ÂŁ37 billion at end-2024, from ÂŁ35.7 billion. The cost/income ratio stood at 73.6 per cent at the end of December 2024, from 68.3 per cent a year before. 

Lloyds Banking Group 
Underlying profit for 2024 fell 19 per cent year-on-year to ÂŁ6.343 billion, and its statutory after-tax profit also fell by the same percentage to ÂŁ4.477 billion.

Julius Baer
Julius Baer said it logged higher operating costs, reflecting more hiring and spending on technology. In adjusted terms, its cost/income ratio was 70.9 per cent, against 69.1 per cent in underlying terms for 2023. Operating income growth was moderated by a year-on-year rise in interest expense. On an IFRS basis of accounting, Julius Baer’s net profit rose 125 per cent year-on-year to SFr1.022 billion.

In 2024, the bank boosted its cost reduction programme; by the end of 2024, underlying initiatives had reached SFr140 million ($153 million), gross, on a run-rate basis. Despite such savings, Julius Baer said its adjusted cost/income ratio is still “far removed” from the less than 64 per cent target it had originally set for this year. So more cuts are needed, and a further SFr110 million gross general expenses and personnel cost savings, on a run-rate basis, are planned by the end of 2025.

Pictet
Consolidated profit rose by 15 per cent to SFr665 million for the year ending 31 December 2024, while the group’s operating income remained in line with the previous year at SFr3.16 billion. Assets under management or custody stood at SFr724 billion in 2024, up 14 per cent from the year before. While net new money for 2024 totalled SFr11 billion, a decline of about 31 per cent from the previous year.

Lombard Odier
Assets under management reached SFr215 billion at the end of 2024, up 12 per cent year-on-year, lifted by positive net new money and strong investment performance. Overall, the group had total client assets of SFr327 billion compared with SFr296 billion at the end of 2023, up 11 per cent year-on-year. Full-year operating income reached SFr1,337 million, down 5 per cent year-on-year, largely caused by a 33 per cent decline in net interest income, reflecting the decrease in the interest rate environment and increase in cost of deposits. Operating expenses remained flat at SFr1,112 million. 

The group, which continued its investment programme in infrastructure and talent, is incurring additional costs linked to the upcoming move to its new headquarters. As a result, net profit stood at SFr179 million in 2024, down 19 per cent year-on-year.

HSBC
Pre-tax profit on a constant currency basis for its wealth and personal banking arm rose 37.7 per cent in 2024 to $12.18 billion from a year before, with profit for the whole bank also rising to $32.3 billion from $29.9 billion. The WPB division logged net operating income of $27.3 billion in 2024, up from $25.9 billion; total operating costs rose to $15.2 billion from $14.35 billion. Expected credit losses in 2024 were $1.335 billion, widening from $935 million. Looking ahead, HSBC said it expects double-digit percentage annual growth in fee and other income in its wealth business over the medium term.

ABN AMRO
It reported a 27 per cent year-on-year fall in fourth quarter profit for 2024, standing at €397 million, with a big rise in income tax costs and a rise in costs offsetting improved operating income. The bank said income tax expenses stood at €220 million in Q4, up 88 per cent on the same quarter from a year before. Operating expenses rose 10 per cent to €1.614 billion. At the end of December 2024, it had a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio – its capital shock absorber – of 14.5 per cent, up slightly from a year ago.

In a brief reference to its private banking arm, ABN AMRO said it is “making a significant investment in Germany with the intended acquisition of Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe, a private bank with a long-standing history, positioning ABN AMRO as a leading private bank in the German market.” In May 2024, the bank built out its northwest European wealth management and corporate banking services by buying Hauck Aufhäuser Lampe. ABN AMRO acquired the business from China-based Fosun for €672 million. It already operates a German private banking business, Bethmann, headquartered in Frankfurt.

Société Générale
The French group said private bank activities saw their assets under management maintain a record level of €154 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, rising 7 per cent on a year earlier. There were €6.3 billion in net inflows during 2024, a pace of 4 per cent.

Net banking income was €348 million over the quarter, a fall of 2 per cent on a year earlier, and stood at €1.469 billion for 2024, unchanged from 2023.

DBS
Wealth management fees helped drive commercial book net fee income in 2024 up by 23 per cent year-on-year to a record S$4.17 billion. Wealth fees surged 45 per cent to a new high of S$2.18 billion from “broad-based growth” in investment products and bancassurance, as well as the consolidation of Citi Taiwan, DBS said in a statement. (In August 2023, DBS completed its purchase of this business from Citigroup, part of a number of moves by the US bank to offload retail banking in various countries.)

Full-year 2024 consumer banking and wealth management income rose 13 per cent to S$10.2 billion from higher net interest income, wealth management fees and card fees, partly driven by the consolidation of Citi Taiwan. Card fees grew 19 per cent to S$1.24 billion from higher spending and the Citi Taiwan impact.

Standard Chartered 
The UK-listed bank, which earns the lion’s share of its revenues in regions such as Asia, reported a 28 per cent year-on-year rise in wealth solutions operating income, reaching $2.49 billion for 2024. The segment includes results for investment products and bancassurance. Total underlying operating income rose by 14 per cent to $17.4 billion last year. The bank said the 36 per cent rise in investment products income was helped by momentum in affluent new-to-bank onboarding, with 265,000 clients joining the bank last year, bringing with them $44 billion in net new money, a year-on-year surge of 61 per cent.

UOB
Net profit for 2024 rose 6 per cent to a record S$6 billion from a year ago. Net interest income was stable at S$9.7 billion as loan growth of 5 per cent offset the effect of net interest margin contraction from interest rate movements. Net fee income grew 7 per cent year-on-year to S$2.4 billion, led by double digit growth in wealth management fees from improved investor sentiments, alongside stronger card fees on an enlarged regional franchise, and higher loan fees as lending and capital market activities picked up.

EFG International
The bank announced record profit of SFr321.6 million in 2024, up 6 per cent on last year, and net new assets (NNA) of SFr10.1 billion in 2024, corresponding to a growth rate of 7.1 per cent, and exceeding EFG’s target range of 4 to 6 per cent.

Assets under management reached SFr165.5 billion in 2024, up 16 per cent compared with SFr142.2 billion in 2023, reflecting strong net new assets, positive foreign exchange impacts and favourable market performance. Profit before tax reached SFr381.4 million for 2024, up 14 per cent on the previous year.

OCBC, Bank of Singapore
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, or OCBC, parent of Bank of Singapore, reported a net profit of S$7.59 billion in 2024, up 8 per cent from 2023.The bank said performance of units including its wealth management arm contributed to results; the wealth arm now accounts for a higher share of group income. 

OCBC’s wealth management income, comprising income from private banking, premier private client, premier banking, insurance, asset management and stockbroking, increased by 13 per cent to a record S$4.89 billion last year. Group wealth management income accounted for 34 per cent of total income, up from 32 per cent. Banking wealth management AuM rose 14 per cent to a new high of S$299 billion, driven by net new money inflows and positive market valuation. The Common Equity Tier 1 ratio, on a fully phased-in Basel measure under international banking standards, stood at 15.3 per cent at the end of December, down a touch from the previous year. 

Royal Bank of Canada 
Net income of C$5.1 billion for the three months to 31 January rose 43 per cent from the same period a year earlier. The bank said that the inclusion of HSBC Bank Canada (HSBC Canada) results – the business that RBC has bought – boosted the net income result by C$214 million. 

Adjusted net income was $5.3 billion, rising 27 per cent. (Canadian banks' quarterly reporting tends to follow a different pattern to the calendar year approach of most. The "first" quarter of 2025 for CIBC is three months to end-January 2025.)

In the wealth management side, net income of $980 million increased $316 million or 48 per cent from a year ago, mainly due to higher fee-based client assets reflecting market appreciation and net sales, which also drove higher variable compensation. (The prior year also included the cost of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation special assessment.)

CIBC
The Canadian commercial banking and wealth management arm logged C$591 million in attributable income in the three months ended 31 January, versus C$523 million a year before. In Canadian wealth management, the increase in revenue was due to higher fee-based revenue from higher average assets under administration and assets under management balances as a result of market appreciation, higher commission revenue from increased client activity, and higher net interest income.

At the US commercial banking and wealth arm of CIBC, attributable net income stood at C$200 million, from a loss of C$8 million a year earlier. The shift was mainly caused by lower provision for credit losses, higher revenue, and lower expenses. Higher annual performance-based mutual fund fees helped boost results.