Wells Fargobeaton its earnings, but missed ever so slightly on revenue for the first quarterof 2017.The bank reported earnings of$1.ooper share, higherthan the $0.97 thatanalysts were expecting.Additionally, the bank said it generated revenue of $22.0 billion, just below analysts' projections of $22.3 billion.CFO John Shewsberry said in a press release accompanying earnings that the results were driven primarily by improved loan quality and a lower tax bill."Expenses were elevated compared with last quarter, driven by typically-higher first quarter personnel-related expenses," Shewsberry said. "Credit results improved, with lower net charge-offs and nonaccrual loans, and we benefited from lower income tax expense."The bank said that consumer loans declined by $5.7 billion compared to the same quarter last year and commercial and industrialloans ' essentially loans made to businesses ' were down by $1.6 billion compared to the previous quarter, but were up $16.8 billion against the same quarter last year.The bank also said there was a decline in outstanding credit for the month. This was partly due to seasonal effects, but also tightening credit standards in some areas."Period-end loan balances were $958.4 billion at March 31, 2017, down $9.2 billion from December 31, 2016, driven by a decline in credit card balances due to seasonality, a slowdown in new credit card account openings, and a continued decline in junior lien mortgage loans," said the bank's release. "In addition, there was an expected decline in auto loans from the fourth quarter as continued proactive steps to tighten underwriting standards resulted in lower origination volume."The report follows a wild week for Wells Fargo.On Tuesday, the board of directors released its investigation into the bank's fake accounts scandal. In September, it was revealed that Wells had settled with regulatorsafter its employees in the retail banking segment had opened up as many as2 million accounts forcustomers without their knowledge between 2011 and 2015. The scandal led to multiple congressional hearings and the resignation of former CEO John Stumpf.The board determined that both Stumpf and former Community Banking head Carrie Tolstedt were responsible for not cracking down on the practice earlier, and the board saidthe scope of the practices most likely extended beyond 2011.For hisrole in the fake accounts issue, the board clawed back another $28 million in compensation for Stumpf (in addition to the $41 million it had clawed back previously). Tolstedt was also retroactivelyfired and had $47.3 million clawed back.Since the settlement with regulators was announced, the bank has seen a steep decline in new account openings. The bank said that new account openings declined by 35% in March from the same month last year, but were up 7% from February. Additionally, bank branch interactions were down from the year before.New Wells CEO Tim Sloan tried to move forward from the scandal in the earnings press release, touting the release of the investigation as"valuable" to the bank."Wells Fargo continued to make meaningful progress in the first quarter in rebuilding trust with customers and other important stakeholders, while producing solid financial results," Sloan said. "We have taken significant actions throughout the company to date and we are committed to building a better bank as we move Wells Fargo forward."Additionally, on Thursday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it was selling a total of 9 million shares of Wells Fargo to duck under regulatory hurdles from the Federal Reserve.Any entity owning more than 10% of a large bank ' as Berkshire did with Wells ' is subject to additional regulation from the Fed. Berkshire decided that the extra scrutiny did not allow them to be the type of shareholders they wanted, so Buffett's firm announced it wouldreduce itsholding in Wells to just below the 10% threshold.SEE ALSO:Warren Buffett is dumping 9 million shares of Wells Fargo to avoid Federal Reserve regulationsJoin the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: Your neighbor's WiFi is ruining yours ' here's how to fix it
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