WFC Wells Fargo and Company

By Emily Glazer 

Wells Fargo & Co. said its first-quarter profit rose 5.5% as one of the nation's largest banks continues to seek growth while trying to move past its spate of regulatory problems.

The bank reported a profit of $5.94 billion, or $1.12 a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected earnings of $1.06 a share.

Revenues fell to $21.9 billion from $22.3 billion.

Shares rose 1.4% to $53.45 in premarket trading after the results were announced.

Wells Fargo is somewhat unique among big banks in that the new U.S. tax-law caused it to record one-time gains to profits. The bank last quarter also had one-time losses related to litigation.

Investors are expected to focus this quarter on the lender's growth prospects and ability to keep costs contained.

In early February, the Federal Reserve sanctioned Wells Fargo for failing to have proper risk controls in place that could detect such issues. In an unusual move, it barred the bank from growing above the $1.95 trillion in assets it had at the end of 2017. The Fed cited "widespread consumer abuses" in its rebuke.

Wells Fargo, run since 2016 by Chief Executive Timothy Sloan, had previously been one of the most consistent big banks at growing earnings and revenue. But its shares more recently have underperformed big bank peers.

In Sept. 2016, the San Francisco-based bank agreed to a $185 million settlement over opening as many as 3.5 million accounts with fictitious or unauthorized information.

Since then, the bank has disclosed wealth management problems and consumer-lending issues around auto insurance charges and mortgage fees, all of which regulators are probing. Wells Fargo has said it plans to refund around $145 million to consumers related to the consumer-lending problems.

Write to Emily Glazer at emily.glazer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 13, 2018 08:23 ET (12:23 GMT)

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