Wells Sees Residential Fundings Soar in 1Q

Wells Fargo & Co. hit a residential home run in the first quarter with originations soaring by 51% to $100 billion, and mortgage-related commitments topping $175 billion.Released early Thursday morning, the figures were preliminary and included an earnings estimate of $3 billion, which could prove to be a record for the bank. Final numbers will be released when it discloses earnings on April 22. Wells' strong residential quarter was aided by historically low interest rates and its 2008 acquisition of Wachovia Corp., a bank with a strong (but somewhat troubled) mortgage operation. The results also indicate that the San Francisco-based bank is poised to gain a huge amount of market share in the mortgage space as other lenders either fail or sell out to stronger competitors. In the fourth quarter Wells had a loan production market share of 18.37% and a servicing share of 18.58%, according to National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report. Late last year Wells received a $25 billion capital injection via the government's TARP program.