Wells Fargo and Company (WFC)

[Investorman]

Wells Fargo has big loss as it adds to reserves
Wednesday January 28, 8:27 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC - News) reported a fourth-quarter loss as it added to reserves for credit losses and wrote down investments.
The company also said the former Wachovia Corp, which it bought on December 31, lost $11.17 billion in the fourth quarter, largely to boost loan loss reserves as well as investment writedowns. Before Wells Fargo outbid Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C - News) to take control, Wachovia nearly collapsed as losses soared from troubled mortgages.

Wells Fargo said it remains "comfortable in the aggregate" with its original assumptions on Wachovia's credit quality, and is comfortable with its forecasts for cost savings and earnings impact.

The bank also maintained its 34 cents per share quarterly dividend and said it has no plans to request new capital from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, after previously receiving $25 billion.

The quarterly loss at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, not including Wachovia, was $2.55 billion, or 79 cents per share, compared with a profit of $1.36 billion, or 41 cents, a year earlier. Revenue fell 4 percent to $9.82 billion.