Wells Fargo on Wednesday revealed stronger-than-expected third-quarter earnings of $1.64bn as the San Francisco-based retail bank continued to expand loans and deposits through the credit crunch.

Wells, which expects to close on a $12bn acquisition of Wachovia in the fourth quarter, earned $0.49 per share, around 25 per cent lower than the same quarter last year. However, this was more than the 34 cents analysts had been expecting even as Wells incurred $646m of previously announced writedowns on securities issued by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Lehman Brothers.