Standard&Poor's Ratings Services' ratings on Wells Fargo&Co. reflect the franchise diversification, consistency in core earnings, and capital and risk management disciplines that continue to set Wells Fargo apart from its large bank peers. In the face of higher credit expenses, it posted record strong revenue of $11.5 billion in second-quarter 2008 despite the challenging business environment, and had pretax preprovision income of $5.6 billion in the quarter, up 34% from one year ago. Wells Fargo posted an elevated credit provision of $3 billion in the second quarter, $1 billion higher than the first-quarter provision. Included in this is $1.5 billion toward a reserve build. The reserve for loans increased to a comfortable 1.88% of loans at
