Wells Fargo reported record third quarter 2012 net income of $4.9 billion, up from $4.1 billion for the same year-ago period and $4.6 billion sequentially. For the first nine months of 2012, net income was $13.8 billion compared with $11.8 billion a year ago.

“Through the efforts of our more than 265,000 team members, we’ve now achieved six consecutive quarters of record net income and EPS,” said chairman and CEO John Stumpf. “In the third quarter, core loans grew by $11.9 billion and we saw continued strength in our mortgage and deposit businesses. We remained diligent in managing costs and continued to have strong underlying credit performance as our loss mitigation efforts and the low interest rate environment helped improve affordability for our customers.”

Commenting on credit quality, chief risk officer Mike Loughlin said,
“Underlying credit quality continued to show improvement in the third quarter, as the overall financial condition of businesses and consumers strengthened, the housing market in many areas of the nation improved, and we continued to work to reduce problem assets and make new, high quality loans.” Loughlin added, “Excluding the impact of the OCC guidance, we saw improvement in charge-offs, recoveries, and nonperforming assets. Early stage delinquencies remained relatively stable from prior quarter. Absent significant deterioration in the economy, we continue to expect future reserve releases.”

To read the Wells Fargo earnings news release click here.