SunTrust's Investment Management, Trust Biz Plunges 36%

SunTrust Bank's trust and investment management business continues to suffer from its sale of asset management firm RidgeWorth Capital Management.

Fourth-quarter revenue from the business plunged to $84 million, a bruising 36% drop from $131 million in the same quarter the year before. Revenue also fell from the previous quarter, dropping by $9 million, or 10%, the parent of the Atlanta-based bank announced Friday.

The bank attributed the $47 million year-over-year decline to "foregone revenue resulting for the sale of RidgeWorth," which it sold in the second quarter of 2014 for $105 million, it said in the earnings release.

The $9 million decline from the previous quarter was "driven primarily by certain seasonal and non-recurring fees earned in the third quarter," SunTrust CFO Aleem Gillani said during the earnings call.

For the full year, revenue from trust and investment management services totaled $423 million, down 18% from 2013, according to the earnings release.

Retail investment services made up for the slack, generating $73 million in fourth-quarter revenue, up 6% year-over-year but down $3 million, or 4%, from the previous quarter. For the full year, retail investment services surged 11% to $297 million from $267 million in 2013. 

The company's consumer banking and private wealth management segment, which includes both trust and retail investment services and other businesses, generated $1.03 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, up 3% year-over-year but flat from the previous quarter. It earned $161 million in fourth-quarter profit, a 13% year-over-year increase.

Noninterest revenue from the consumer banking and private wealth management services in the fourth quarter was down 3% from the previous quarter but up 3% year-over-year "driven by growth in wealth management-related income and card fees," SunTrust's chairman and CEO William Rogers Jr., said during the call.

"In consumer banking and private wealth management, we continue to make progress on our core initiatives or growth initiatives while holding the line on expenses," Rogers said.

Overall, SunTrust Banks, the parent of SunTrust Bank, earned $378 million, or 72 cents per share, on a diluted basis, in the fourth quarter.  Adjusted for a $145 million legal provision, earnings per share were 88 cents, compared 81 cents , on an adjusted basis, in the prior quarter and 77 cents in the fourth quarter of 2013.

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