Wells Fargo profit jumps to record $3.2b

Wells Fargo said Wednesday its third-quarter earnings rose to a record 3.2 billion dollars, as the banking giant managed to profit from mortgages and consumer credit despite a weak economy.
The profit was up 98 percent from a year ago and amounted to 56 cents a share, far ahead of analyst expectations for earnings of 37 cents per share.
Revenues doubled to 22.5 billion dollars, helped by the acquisition of troubled rival Wachovia.
The San Francisco-based bank, the fourth-largest US bank by assets, said its integration costs for Wachovia were lower than anticipated, helping overall profits.
"Doing what's right for our customers again proved to be right for our stockholders as our talented team members earned even more of our customers' business, enabling us to achieve our third consecutive quarter of record earnings," said president and chief executive John Stumpf.
“The Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger, agreed to a year ago, is exceeding our expectations and already adding value for many of our 70 million customers across North America.”