Societe Generale Private Banking’s revenue fell 2.4% in 2012, to 757m ($1,020m).
Its contribution to the group’s net income was down by 19.1%, from 115m in 2011 to 93m out of the total 774m last year.
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This amount represents a share of about 12% of the group’s total net income.
Positive fourth quarter
However, the private banking section’s fourth quarter’s revenues were on the rise, totaling 202m compared to 162m in 2011; an increase of 26.7%.
The increase in revenues is explained by the higher operating expenses in the fourth quarter of 2011 which was 6.7% higher compared to those in the fourth quarter of 2012. This rise was due to transformation costs and the reallocation of systemic tax to the business, the bank said.
During the fourth quarter of 2012, the private banking section of the bank reported an operating income of 40m and a contribution to the group net income of 27m.
A unit hit by cost-saving measures
All sections of the private banking, global investment management and services unit suffered from cuts in their operating expenses in 2012. The hardest hit was the Asset Management section which reported a cut of 21%.
Despite positive fourth quarter’s revenues in 2012, the private banking section suffered from market uncertainty and the cautious stance of investors.
The private banking unit saw operating expenses fall 1.3%, down to 624m in 2012 as a result of cost-saving measures.
Assets under management rise
Assets under management (AuM) in the private banking section of Societe Generale were on the rise by 1.5% to 86.1bn.
This includes an inflow of 1.0bn, a "market" effect of 2.6bn, a currency impact of -0.4bn and a "structure" effect of -2.0bn.
In 2012, Societe Generale saw its amount of client assets substantially increasing, going from 37bn in 2011 to 88bn in 2012.
