Wells Fargo is the first of the major financial institutions to announce that it is paying a quarterly dividend of $371.5 million back to the Federal government on the preferred shares the bank issued when it received TARP funds. Wells Fargo which reluctantly took $25 billion of TARP money says that has been lending aggressively even as it’s primary competitors are on the brink of being nationalized.
In the fourth quarter of 2008 Wells Fargo made $22 billion in loan commitments and $50 billion in mortgage origination’s which is almost 3 times what the Treasury Department invested in the bank.
Given Wells Fargo’s reputation as being the most stable and methodical of the major mortgage lenders you may be surprised to know where they stand in the industry…..
Wells Fargo continues to be a dominate force in the residential mortgage business in terms of product availability and total dollar volume. With the acquisition of Wachovia which was completed in the forth quarter of 2008 Wells Fargo is poised to continue it’s tradition of being the residential mortgage leader in the US.
Top 5 Mortgage Lenders in 2008
- Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC) $230.0 Billion
- J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPM) $185.3 Billion
- Bank of America (BAC) $181.0 Billion
- Countrywide $132.0 Billion
- Citigroup Inc. (C) $104.3 Billion
I might be a bit bias given that Wells Fargo is my employer but clearly we are leading the way when it comes to lending in a responsible and prudent manner while simultaneously doing everything possible to help the economic situation.
To read more on this topic see Colin Barr’s storyon CNNMoney.com
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