Arbuthnot Banking Group, which includes the Arbuthnot Latham private banking and wealth management business, today announced an increase in underlying profit of 91%.

Pre-tax profit for the group rose from £0.2m in 2016 to £7m in 2017 and underlying profit before tax was £7.7m (2016: £4.0m). Operating income increased by 32% to £54.6m (2016: £41.5m).

Arbuthnot Latham offers a wealth management service provided mostly by Chartered Financial Planners. Its Chartered Financial Planners have an average of 15 years experience each and the bank boasts that Arbuthnot Latham was the first UK Private Bank to achieve Corporate Chartered Financial Planning Status in 2011.

The Private Bank, which includes the wealth management division, continued to see a “good flow” of new client introductions and increased customer deposit balances by 14% to £1,082m (2016: £946m).

Many of the new clients transferred their balances into the wealth management division of the Private Bank, said the company. The investment management team saw assets under management increase by a net 13% reaching £1,044m (2016: £920m).

Wealth planning fees and commissions rose from £2.1m to nearly £2.6m. Investment management fees and commissions rose from £7.1m to nearly £7.9m.

Sir Henry Angest, chairman and chief executive of Arbuthnot, said: “The group had a good year, with profits increasing substantially, supported by the deployment of capital into the business.”