NEW YORK (Standard&Poor's) April 13, 2012--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today said its ratings on Wells Fargo&Co. (WFC; A+/Negative/A-1) are unaffected by the company's strong first-quarter results. WFC generated $6.6 billion in pretax income, up 23.4% year over year. First-quarter results benefited from a $400 million reserve release, down from $600 million last quarter, in addition to good growth in noninterest income. Pretax, preprovision earnings totaled $8.6 billion in the first quarter, up from $7.6 billion in first-quarter 2011. Expense reduction is on track as the company confirmed a target of $11.25 billion in noninterest expense for the fourth quarter of 2012, up from $11.0 billion last quarter. Projected expenses are higher as revenues are increasing
