The pick-up in margin lending activity in the March quarter has not been sustained, with new figures showing margin loan balances and client account numbers resuming their long-term downward trend in the June quarter.According to Reserve Bank data released yesterday, total margin loan balances fell from A$12.54 billion in the March quarter to $12.04 in the June quarter. The March quarter figures were the first increases since 2007 and had given lenders hope that a recovering equity market would encourage share investors to borrow.The June quarter figures will be particularly disappointing for lenders, who use the June 30 deadline for deductible interest pre-payment as a focus for their marketing.The number of client accounts fell from 179,000 in the March quarter to 176,000 in June.The only number that went up during the quarter was margin calls. The number of margin calls per day per 1000 clients increased from 0.58 in the March quarter to 1.1 in the June quarter.Commonwealth Bank reported this week that its profit from its "equities and margin lending" unit fell 12 per cent in 2012/13. This was a major drag on the business and private banking division's profits.