Jan 14 (Reuters) - Wells Fargo's profit rose in the fourth quarter as it boosted loans and earned more from interest payments, while growing in key areas in its consumer and commercial businesses.
The fourth-largest U.S. lender's net income was $5.36 billion, or $1.62 per share, in the three months ended December 31, it said on Wednesday. That compares with $5.08 billion, or $1.43 per share, a year earlier.
"We have funded significant increased investments in infrastructure and business growth by driving
greater savings... Evidence of increased growth can be seen across the company," CEO Charlie Scharf said in a statement.
He cited 20% growth in new credit card accounts, a 19% jump in auto lending balances, 12% loan growth in commercial banking and a 14% increase in investment banking fees.
The results cap a strong year for the U.S. bank as regulators removed a $1.95 trillion asset cap in June, lifting a penalty linked to Wells Fargo's fake-accounts scandal, allowing the bank to grow and pushing total assets past the $2 trillion mark last year for the first time.
Wells Fargo's net interest income — the difference between what it earns on loans and pays out on deposits — rose 4% to $12.33 billion in the quarter from a year earlier.
The bank had expected interest income to be between $12.4 billion and $12.5 billion in the quarter.
Provision for credit losses fell to $1.04 billion in the quarter, compared with $1.10 billion a year earlier.
Wells Fargo also closed seven consent orders last year, drawing a line under its regulatory woes tied to a fake-accounts scandal. It still has one remaining consent order from 2018.
Shares of the San Francisco, California-based bank fell nearly 1% in premarket trading. The bank's stock surged 32.7% in 2025, outperforming the benchmark S&P 500 index.
JOB CUTS
The bank recorded $612 million in severance expenses in the quarter as it continued to streamline its workforce.
Under Scharf, the bank has streamlined its workforce, leaning on cost cuts to fund long-term growth initiatives.
Scharf said last month that Wells Fargo will keep trimming headcount as it focuses on becoming more efficient, adding that artificial intelligence presents a major opportunity to boost productivity.
(Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil and Nivedita Balu in Toronto; editing by Lananh Nguyen and Sriraj Kalluvila)
