Webster’s Wealth Business Slides from Q4

Webster Bank’s wealth management businesses took a dive from its record fourth-quarter performance in 2013.

In the first quarter of 2014, wealth and investment services generated $8.84 million in revenue, down 12% from $9.99 million the previous quarter, the bank’s holding company announced Thursday.

The decline was partly due to weather-related events that lowered customer activity across the board, Glenn MacInnes, Webster’s chief financial officer, said during the earnings call. He also attributed the drop to seasonal swings. “First quarters are typically lower than the fourth quarter,” he said, noting that he expected stronger second-quarter growth in wealth management. 

Revenue was up, however, year-over-year, jumping 13.8% from $7.77 million in the first quarter of 2013. Assets under management totaled $1.8 billion, a 12.3% increase from the year before.

Jim Smith, Webster’s chairman and CEO, noted that the wealth management businesses had nearly completed the transformation to a new model announced after launching Webster Private Bank in 2012. “The unit’s leadership team is fully in place,” he said, alluding to recent hire of a director of Private Bank Lending.

Overall, Webster Financial Group, the bank’s holding company, earned $47.8 million in the first quarter of 2014, up from $39.2 million in the same quarter the year before.

Read More:

• Webster Private Bank Hires Director of Lending
• Webster Investment Services Ups Advisors, Revenue
• Webster Private Bank Revamps Investment Offering, Readies for Growth