Wells Fargo Lending Margin Falls Below 3% as Profit Declines

Wells Fargo & Co., the most valuable U.S. bank, said low interest rates pushed first-quarter lending margins below 3 percent for the first time since at least 1994.

Net income fell 1.5 percent to $5.8 billion, or $1.04 a share, from $5.89 billion, or $1.05, a year earlier, the San Francisco-based company said Tuesday in a statement, the first year-over-year quarterly profit decline since 2008. The average estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg was for per-share profit of 98 cents.