Wells Fargo Posts Higher Profit

By Rachel Louise Ensign 

Wells Fargo & Co. said Tuesday that second-quarter profit rose.

Quarterly profit at the San Francisco-based bank, the fourth largest in the U.S. by assets, was $6.21 billion, compared with $5.19 billion a year ago. Per share, earnings were $1.30. Analysts polled by FactSet had expected $1.17 per share.

Second-quarter revenue was $21.6 billion, roughly the same level as a year ago. Analysts had expected $20.93 billion.

The quarter's results included a $721 million gain from selling old mortgages.

The bank's 2016 sales-practices scandal has badly damaged the bank's reputation and led to a morass of regulatory problems. The bank is in its fourth month without a permanent chief executive following Timothy Sloan's retirement in March. The board continues to search for a replacement and some top candidates have told the bank they are not interested.

Wells Fargo's key business lines also have struggled in recent years. What was once an aggressive, fast-growing lender whose profits towered above those of rivals has become a firm with sluggish revenues that is leaning heavily on cost cuts.

Expenses fell 4% in the second-quarter from a year earlier.

Write to Rachel Louise Ensign at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 16, 2019 08:34 ET (12:34 GMT)

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