Wells Fargo & Co, the largest US mortgage lender, today reported its fifth decline in quarterly profit in a row as it tries to recover from a bogus-accounts scandal.
The bank has been dealing with multiple lawsuits and a sharp drop in account openings after it settled with regulators in September over charges that its employees created 2 million accounts without customers' consent.
The San Francisco-based bank said its net income applicable to shareholders fell 6.4% to $4.87 billion, or 96 cents per share, in the fourth quarter ended December 31.
This was down from $5.20 billion, or $1 per share, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the bank earned $1.03 per share, beating the average analyst estimate of $1 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The bank said it was setting aside $805m to cover potential loan losses, down 3.1% from a year earlier.
The results were for the first full quarter under chief executive Timothy Sloan, who took over after John Stumpf resigned in the wake of the scandal.
Wells Fargo's said its non-interest expenses rose 4.9% to $13.22 billion, reflecting higher legal costs.
The bank's mortgage banking revenue fell 14.6% to $1.42 billion. Home loan originations rose 53.2% to $72 billion from a year earlier and were up 2.9% from the third quarter.
Total loans rose 5.6% to $96.76 billion in the three month period.
Revenue was little changed at $21.58 billion, but fell short of the average estimate of $22.45 billion.
Like other US bank stocks, Wells Fargo's shares have risen sharply since the election of Donald Trump as US president.
Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, kicked off the quarterly earnings period for big US lenders earlier today, announcing a 46.8% rise in profit.
And JPMorgan Chase & Co, the biggest US bank by assets, reported a 23.8% rise in quarterly profit, helped by a surge in investor activity related to the US presidential election.
