Wells Fargo & Co reported record first quarter auto business in the company earnings report today.
First quarter auto loan originations shot up 15% over last year to 7.8$ billion, pushing the bank’s retail portfolio to $52.6 billion as of March 31, 2014. Meanwhile, the volume of commercial loans outstanding rose 12% to $8.5 billion.
CEO John Stumpf and CFO Timothy Sloane said the bank continues to be the number one auto lender in the nation on this morning’s earnings call with investors. They also noted that high national auto sales in March, helped drive originations.
Auto net charge-offs were down $18 million over the past quarter, but up $14 million over last year.
The company said that total loans were $826.4 billion at the end of the first quarter, up $4.2 billion from Dec. 31, driven in part by auto.
The executives said they were optimistic about the bank’s continued overall multi-sector loan growth.
“The loan pipelines look good,” said Sloane.
