Northern Trust has announced third quarter profits of $170.4 million compared with $155.6 million the year previous, a rise of 9.5 per cent and 12 per cent quarter on quarter.
Third quarter net income per common share was $.70 compared with $.64 in the third quarter of 2010 and $.62 in the second quarter of 2011.
Trust, investment and other servicing fees, which represented 57 per cent of revenue, were $555.3 million in the current quarter compared to $518.7 million in the prior year quarter, an increase of $36.6 million, or seven per cent.
In Corporate and Institutional Services (C&IS), trust, investment and other servicing fees increased $17.7 million, or six per cent, and totaled $310.9 million compared to the prior year quarter’s $293.2 million. Custody and fund administration represented $205.6 million in revenue, a 29 per cent lift year on year, while securities lending fell to $20.7 million, a 63 per cent drop.
The increase in C&IS fees primarily reflects recent acquisitions, new business, improved markets, partially offset by the decrease in securities lending revenue.C&IS assets under custody totaled $3.8 trillion, up seven per cent and included $2.3 trillion of global custody assets, up 10 per cent year on year.
Frederick Waddell, chairman and CEO, says,“Our third quarter results reflect strong earnings growth despite the persistent challenges of a difficult global economic environment. New business, across the company, was excellent as was our continued focus on the balance between revenue and expense growth."
Noninterest expense was at $701.2 million, an increase of 13 per cent versus last year's quarter, of which compensation expense was the largest component at $311.1 million, up 14 per cent year on year. The increase is mostly due to higher full-time equivalent staff levels, higher performance-based compensation and annual salary increases.