Wells Fargo reported Q1/20 net income of $653 million, down 77.5% from net income of $2.9 billion in Q1/19. Revenue of $17.7 billion was down 18% from $21.6 billion year over year.
Lease financing average balances of $19,288 million in Q1/20 were down slightly from $19,391 million in Q1/19. Net interest income of $11.3 billion was down $999 million from a year earlier. The Q1/20 yield on lease financings was of 4.4% was up from 4.61% in the same quarter in 2019.
Q1/20 period-end commercial loan balances of $520,514 million were up 3.65% from $512,641 million at the end of the same period in 2019.
Provision for credit losses increased $2.2 billion, predominantly due to a $2.1 billion reserve build in Q1/20, reflecting forecasted credit deterioration due to the COVID-19 pandemic and higher charge-offs in the oil and gas portfolio driven by significant decline in oil prices.
The net interest margin was 2.58%, up five basis points from the prior quarter predominantly due to favorable hedge ineffectiveness accounting results and lower MBS premium amortization, partially offset by balance sheet repricing driven by the impact of the lower interest rate environment.
“Wells Fargo plays an important role in the financial system and the economic strength of our country, and we take our responsibility seriously, particularly in these unprecedented times,” Charlie Scharf, CEO of Wells Fargo, said. “We have taken comprehensive steps to help customers, employees and communities. For our customers, we’ve suspended residential property foreclosure sales, offered fee waivers and provided payment deferrals, among other actions. For example, starting in early March and continuing into last week, we helped more than 1.3 million consumer and small business customers by deferring and waiving fees. This included deferring more than one million payments and providing over 900,000 fee waivers. We were also there for our commercial clients, who utilized over $80 billion of their loan commitments in March alone. For our employees, we’ve enabled approximately 180,000 to work remotely. We are making additional cash payments to employees whose roles require them to come into the office, and we have taken significant actions to help ensure their safety. We have also provided financial support for child care and increased medical benefits for employees. To support our communities, we are directing $175 million in charitable donations from the Wells Fargo Foundation to help address food, shelter, small business and housing stability, as well as providing help to public health organizations fighting to contain the spread of COVID-19. We will continue to evaluate this fluid situation and take additional actions as necessary.
“I’m incredibly proud of the efforts our employees are making across Wells Fargo to support our customers and each other, particularly those on the front lines. Our priority is to continue to help our customers, our employees and our country through these challenging times.”
