| Production Down, Earnings Up at Wells
$71 billion 1st quarter production April 22, 2004 By MortgageDaily.com staff
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| While mortgage volume dropped 8% for Wells Fargo & Co., the banking giant said it achieved eleven consecutive quarters of record profits.
The San Francisco-based financial thrift announced that its first quarter residential mortgage originations of $65 billion declined from the fourth quarter’s total of $71 billion. Last year at this time, volume was reported at $103 billion. Company executive Mark Oman said the latest origination total represented “good levels of home mortgage sales” and pointed out that the drop in mortgage interest rates during the quarter led application activity to grow to $119 billion — up $48 billion from the fourth quarter. The latest volume was comprised of $30 billion in retail loan fundings and $25 billion in correspondent/wholesale originations, according to the report. Remaining production was attributed to Wells Fargo Financial and home equity loans and lines Wells said its servicing portfolio balance grew 3% from the prior quarter to $753 billion. Wells reported that net income totaled $1.8 billion, or $1.03 per share, compared to the prior year’s $1.5 billion, or $0.88 per share. “We’ve now achieved eleven consecutive quarters of record profits,” said CEO Dick Kovacevich in a statement. |
