Wells Fargo & Co today reported a 16.4% jump in quarterly profit, as the US lender reaped the benefits of its aggressive cost-cutting efforts.
The bank said its non-interest expenses fell 7.5% to $13.9 billion in the first quarter from a year earlier and said it was on track to meet its 2019 expense target of $52 billion to $53 billion.
Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest US bank by assets, has been leaning on cost cuts to grow its profits in the aftermath of a wide-ranging sales scandal that has crimped revenue, hurt its reputation and resulted in a regulatory growth restriction on its balance sheet.
Some of the bank's business fundamentals remained challenged even more than two years after the scandal.
Total revenue fell 1.55 in the quarter to $21.61 billion.
Loans rose marginally to $948.25 billion, with growth in commercial loans cushioning a 2% decline in loans made at its consumer unit, the area most closely tied to the sales scandal.
The bank's net income applicable to common stock rose to $5.51 billion, or $1.20 per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $4.73 billion, or 96 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts had expected a profit of $1.09 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co today also reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, as higher interest income and gains in the bank's advisory and debt underwriting business offset weakness in trading.
