Wells Fargo & Co.'s fourth-quarter earnings rose 20% as the banking giant again saw its bottom line benefit as it set aside less money to cover potential loan losses.
The West Coast-based bank, with a smaller capital markets business, is less likely than some of its rivals to see impacts from recent market turbulence. The focus is expected to remain on loan growth as the economy remains choppy.
During the third quarter, Wells Fargo posted its first earnings miss in more than two years as loan growth wasn't enough to make soaring deposits profitable.
Wells Fargo reported a profit of $4.11 billion, or 73 cents a share, up from $3.41 billion, or 61 cents a share, a year earlier.
Revenue decreased 4.1% to $20.6 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently projected earnings of 72 cents a share on revenue of $20.08 billion.
Credit loss provisions slid to $2.04 billion from $3 billion a year earlier. The company reported a reserve-release of $600 million.
Net charge-offs, or loans lenders don't think are collectible, fell to 1.36% of average loans from 2.02% a year earlier and 1.37% in the third quarter.
Average loans rose to $768.6 billion from $753.7 billion a year earlier.
