Wells Fargo's Wealth Division's Net Income Rises

Tom Burroughes

23 April 2009

Wells Fargo, the US bank that has bought rival Wachovia, said yesterday that its wealth management division’s net income more than doubled to $259 million in the first quarter of this year from $93 million.

Total revenue rose to $2.64 billion from $637 million a year before, Wells Fargo said in a statement yesterday.

At the client brokerage segment, client deposits fell by 5 per cent to $910 billion; private banking revenue rose by $257 million over the year, including a 57 per cent growth at the legacy Wells Fargo business, the firm said.

For Wells Fargo as a whole, its net income was $3.05 billion, or 56 cents a share, in the latest quarter, compared to $2 billion, or 60 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Wells Fargo reported record quarterly revenue of $21.02 billion, up from $10.56 billion in the first quarter of 2008. In the latest quarter, Wachovia contributed $8.72 billion of total revenue.