Wells Fargo & Co., operator of Wachovia Bank branches throughout Connecticut, says its fourth-quarter profit shot up, as it was able to lower the amount of reserves set aside to cover souring loans, The Associated Press reports.
The San Francisco bank says it earned $3.2 billion, or 61 cents per share. That matched Wall Street’s forecast.
Last year’s net income of $394 million was affected by a large preferred dividend paid to the government, which was not necessary this year after it paid back its bailout money.
CEO John Stumpf says all of the bank’s business segments contributed to earnings as the economy started to improve. It wrote off 29 percent fewer uncollectable loans than in the 2009 quarter and released $850 million from loan-loss reserves.
