Wells Fargo profit beats estimates on cost controls, rise in loans

[July 16, 2019] (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co <WFC.N> beat analysts' estimates for quarterly profit on Tuesday, as the fourth-largest U.S. bank benefited from an uptick in lending and aggressive cost cutting.

The San Francisco-based lender has had to work to gain back the trust of customers and investors after more than two years of fines and investigations into inappropriate sales practices.

The bank has been leaning on cost controls to cope with sluggish revenue trends in the wake of the sales scandals that spread to each of its primary business segments and claimed two chief executives.

Interim Chief Executive Officer Allen Parker said the bank had made progress in his second quarter in charge on its top priorities of focusing on customers and meeting the expectations of regulators.

Wells Fargo reported non-interest expense of $13.4 billion, down $533 million from a year earlier, while total loans rose 0.6% to $949.88 billion.

Net income applicable to common stock rose http://pdf.reuters.com/htmlnews/
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20190716:nBw7qdcmPa to $5.85 billion, or $1.30 per share, in the second quarter ended June 30, from $4.79 billion, or 98 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts had expected a profit of $1.15 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Imani Moise in New York and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila

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