Wells Fargo Expenses Rise to Highest in 2 Years, Crimping Profit

Wells Fargo & Co., the most valuable U.S. bank, said expenses rose to the highest level in two years as the lender paid employees more and increased spending on risk-monitoring.

Fourth-quarter expenses climbed 4.7 percent from a year earlier to $12.6 billion, the San Francisco-based bank said today in a statement. The increase crimped net income, which rose 1.8 percent to $5.71 billion, or $1.02 a share. The average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for profit of $1.01 a share under generally accepted accounting principles.