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Wells Fargo: Housing Slump Worst Since Depression
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Stumpf pointed out that Wells Fargo never offered some exotic mortgages, such as adjustable-rate loans that let borrowers pay less than the principal due, that have caused problems for rivals.
Countrywide did, and is cutting up to 12,000 jobs after a $1.2 billion third-quarter loss. Its chief executive, Angelo Mozilo, in July lamented "home price depreciation almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression."
Mozilo was born in 1938, around when the Depression was ending, while Stumpf was born in the mid-1950s.
Stumpf said the current downturn resulted in part from "froth, unscrupulous lenders, (and) borrowers who got too greedy," and called it the "steepest, fastest, most prolonged decline in residential real estate" in a long time.
"Once we reach the bottom, the (housing) inventory is going to come off pretty quickly," he said. "Once the secondary market gets comfortable with (credit) ratings again, and once you think you've hit bottom, I think we'll see some turnaround, and it could be faster than we've seen in the past."
Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway on Wednesday said it owned 8.3 percent of Wells Fargo, making it by far the largest shareholder, according to Thomson ShareWatch. Berkshire reported owning 280 million shares as of Sept. 30, up from 258 million three months earlier.
Through Wednesday, Wells Fargo shares had fallen 6 percent this year, while the 24-member Philadelphia KBW Bank Index was down 17 percent.
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Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
