Wells Fargo profit rises on reserve release boost

[October 14, 2021]   (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co reported a rise in third-quarter profit on Thursday as the bank released funds set aside to cover soured loans brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A customer leaves an ATM at the Wells Fargo & Co. bank in downtown Denver April 13, 2016. REUTERS/Rick Wilking

The fourth-largest U.S. bank has operated since 2018 under consent orders from the Federal Reserve and two other U.S. financial regulators to improve governance and oversight, with the Fed also capping its assets at $1.95 trillion.

The lender reported a $1.7 billion decrease in the allowance for credit losses in the quarter.

It reported a net income of $5.12 billion, or $1.17 per share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $3.22 billion, or 70 cents per share, a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 99 cents per share, according to the IBES estimate from Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru and Michelle Price in WASHINGTON; Editing by Aditya Soni)

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