Northern Trust Corp.'s (NTRS) first-quarter profit fell 3.9% on
persistently low interest rates and as lower fee revenue stunted
top-line growth.
The results missed Wall Street expectations.
Northern Trust, which provides investment management and other
services to wealthy people and large institutions, has struggled to
profit off its lending and fees amid persistently low interest
rates.
Northern Trust also faces litigation from pension-fund managers
who have alleged the bank didn't give them the best rates possible
on foreign-exchange trades. Similar lawsuits have accused peers
Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK) and State Street Corp. (STT) of
the same short-changing.
BNY Mellon reported earlier Tuesday that its first-quarter
profit rose 12% on higher fee revenue and managed assets, while
State Street's profit slid 5.3% on a smaller impact from one-time
items.
Northern Trust reported a first-quarter profit of $151 million,
or 61 cents a share, compared with earnings of $157.2 million, or
64 cents a share, a year earlier. The quarters included 2 cents and
5 cents, respectively, in per-share benefits related to a
settlement with Visa Inc. (V). Revenue was flat at $879.9
million.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 65 cents
on $928 million in revenue.
Assets under custody grew 17% while assets under management
edged up 2%, excluding securities lending collateral.
Trust and investment fees were essentially flat at $514.9
million, while Treasury management fees fell 7.5% to $18.6
million.
Foreign exchange trading income rose 6% to $84.8 million amid
higher volume and market volatility. Securities commission and
trading income increased 13%.
Shares closed at $51.40 Monday and were inactive premarket. The
stock has lost 12% over the past year.
-By Drew FitzGerald, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2909;
Andrew.FitzGerald@dowjones.com