Wells Fargo topped analysts' forecasts in its first earnings report since a phony accounts scandal hit the bank, but the firm revealed that its consumer business may be taking a hit.
Here's some of what the bank said in its quarterly supplement Friday, regarding customer activity in September:
- "Mortgage referrals from retail banking were down 24 percent in September from August." Retail banking referrals accounted for about 10 percent of Wells Fargo's mortgage originations for the year so far, the bank said.
- "Customer visits with bankers, account openings and applications were down on lower referrals, marketing activity and product offerings."
- Openings of consumer checking accounts fell 30 percent in September from August, and 25 percent from September last year. Credit card applications declined by 20 percent.
- The bank said it has 33.2 million consumer checking accounts and 7.8 million point-of-sale active consumer credit cards.
- Customer visits with branch bankers declined 10 percent this September from the same month last year, while total digital sessions, online and mobile, increased 13 percent from the same period last year.
- Customer experience scores were slightly lower than in August and September of last year, but "were in-line with historic performance."
Wells Fargo's ongoing accounts controversy resulted in the bank paying $185 million in penalties for opening roughly 2 million consumer deposit and credit card accounts without customer authorization.
Wells Fargo still faces a number of ongoing investigations by regulators, as well as private lawsuits.
"I am deeply committed to restoring the trust of all of our stakeholders, including our customers, shareholders, and community partners. We know that it will take time and a lot of hard work to earn back our reputation, but I am confident because of the incredible caliber of our team members," President and CEO Tim Sloan said in the third quarter earnings release.
John Stumpf abruptly retired Wednesday as chairman and CEO, but not all analysts are convinced that the ascension of well-liked Tim Sloan to CEO will be enough to restore confidence in the bank.
Wells Fargo's net income in the most recent quarter declined to $5.64 billion from $5.8 billion the same period last year, the bank said Friday.