Wells Fargo has matched
rival JPMorgan Chase by posting a record quarterly net
income for the three months to 31 March.
Wells recorded a net
profit of $3.8 bn for the first quarter, an increase of 52% from
the corresponding period a year ago.
But total revenue declined
by 5.1% year-on-year to $20.3bn.
The linked-quarter decline
in revenue was primarily due to lower mortgage banking revenue
(down $741m) and lower net interest income.
Total assets increased by
just over 1% year-on-year to $1.24trn.
Wells’ first quarter
highlights included:
- Average core deposits
increased by 5% year-on-year to $796.8bn; - Consumer checking
accounts grew by a net 7.4% from the first quarter last
year; - Retail bank household
cross-sell ratio for the combined Wells/Wachovia branch network
increased from 5.60 products per household (pph) in the first
quarter of 2010 to 5.79 pph, and - Alternative channel
growth: Wells finished the first quarter with 19.4m active online
customers and 5.5m active mobile banking customers.
Less positive metrics
included a 22 basis points decline in the net interest margin from
4.27% a year ago to 4.05%.
Wells cost-income ratio
also moved in the wrong direction, by 6.1 percentage points from
56.5% to 62.6%.
John Stumpf, Wells Fargo
chairman and CEO, said:
“Our strong first
quarter results reflected positive trends in our business
fundamentals as credit quality improved, capital ratios increased
and cross-selling reached new highs.”
