Wells Fargo said Tuesday its profit fell in the last three months of 2018 as the bank reported a decline in deposits and loans in the wake of a series of scandals.
San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said it made $6.1 billion in profit in the fourth quarter, down 1 percent from the same period a year ago. Its revenue fell by 5 percent over the period.
In a statement, Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry said the bank continued to have positive business trends in the quarter as it saw year-over-year growth in areas including primary consumer-checking customers, consumer credit card accounts, and debit and credit card usage.
Investors have been keeping a close eye on Wells Fargo's financial performance as it recovers from scandals.
Those began in 2016 with accusations that the bank's employees created millions of unauthorized customer accounts to meet aggressive sales goals.
Since then, Wells has disclosed customer harm in other areas, including mortgage and auto lending, foreign exchange, wealth management and add-on products like identity theft protection. In an unprecedented move, the Federal Reserve in February placed a cap on Wells' growth until the bank improves its governance and controls.
Regulators have also fined Wells Fargo more than $1 billion for consumer abuses.
Just last month, the bank agreed to pay $575 million to resolve investigations by all 50 states and Washington, D.C., into the unauthorized accounts and a range of other practices. CEO Tim Sloan said in a statement at the time that the settlement underscored Wells' "serious commitment to making things right in regard to past issues as we work to build a better bank."
This month, the California Department of Insurance announced Wells has agreed to pay a $10 million penalty under a settlement agreement that resolves claims it was signing up customers and charging them for insurance without their consent. Wells also agreed to not do new business during the remaining term of its two California insurance licenses, which expire in 2020, and to not apply for any new licenses for at least two years after that.
On Monday, Citigroup kicked off earnings season for banks, reporting fourth-quarter profit of $4.3 billion, or $1.64 per share. That compared with a loss of $18.9 billion a year earlier as it took a charge tied to the 2017 federal tax overhaul.
Bank of America is expected to report its quarterly results on Wednesday.
