NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) Jan. 19, 2011--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services said today that the fourth-quarter results posted by Well Fargo&Co. (WFC; AA-/Negative/A-1+) will not affect its ratings on the company. WFC generated $5.2 billion in pretax income, essentially the same as last quarter. An $850 million reserve release, $200 million more than in the third quarter, helped fourth-quarter results. Pretax preprovision earnings were $8.2 billion compared with $8.6 billion last quarter. Credit quality continued to improve. Nonperforming assets declined for the first time since the merger. Net charge-offs declined to 2.02% from last quarter's 2.14% and provisions of $2.99 billion were down from $3.45 billion in the third quarter. Reserves are still adequate at 3.0% of
