US banking group Wells Fargo closed the first quarter of 2012 with consolidated net income of $4,02 billion, a sharp 13% increase over a year earlier.
Net earnings per share were 75 cents versus analyst expectations of 73 cents. For the bank, which is based in San Francisco, it is the seventh consecutive quarter with improving net income. Even revenues, which in general suffered sharp reductions among the large Wall Street groups following the financial crisis, improved to 21,64 billion, up 6% from the previous 20,33 billion and against expectations of stagnation.
The quarterly budget was supported by a constant improvement in the quality of the loan portfolio but also by the decision to reduce the allocations to reserves to cover non-performing loans.
