Wells Fargo: Mortgages Come to Us as Rivals Stumble

Wells Fargo

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[WFC  Loading...      ()   ] is picking up mortgage applications from former competitors and seeing the relative simplicity of its mutual fund products help that business, bank CFO Howard Atkins told CNBC.

The nation's fifth-largest bank saw $100 billion in mortgage applications in the second-quarter, said Atkins.

"Our sense is that some of those applications might have gone to other mortgage players that are not doing business anymore, or that are struggling, but we know that we are picking up mortgage producers," he said.

Wells Fargo is considered a "safety factor" in the mutual fund business, said Atkins. (See the accompanying video for more.)

"We're getting mutual fund inflows in part because we don't really have in our mutual fund business any of the more complicated and higher risk products," he said. "Spreads have widened out, and to the extent that you have the capital to take advantage of everything from middle market commercial lending to other forms of loans and securities."

Atkins also said the U.S. housing market is stabilizing and that he expects credit to eventually turnaround.

"We have indicated, in at least the real estate parts of our portfolio, our losses will probably go up before they go down," he said. "If you can build a franchise of an organization, what happens, when the cycle does turn you have a stronger company."