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Wachovia's Net Rises on Acquisitions, Investment Bank (Update2)
July 20 (Bloomberg) -- Wachovia Corp., the bank that's making this year's biggest financial-services acquisition, said second-quarter earnings rose 14 percent as earlier purchases boosted lending profit and investment-banking fees surged.
Net income climbed to $1.89 billion, or $1.17 a share, from $1.65 billion, or $1.04, a year earlier, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said today in a statement. Revenue rose 14 percent to $7.26 billion, boosted by the additions of Westcorp and AmNet Mortgage Inc.
Chief Executive Officer Kennedy Thompson, who in May announced a $26 billion deal for California's Golden West Financial Corp., used Westcorp and AmNet to expand into auto financing and mortgages for riskier borrowers, both of which pay higher interest rates than more traditional loans.
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Market sees strength in singles
ACCORDING TO the California Association of Realtors, single people comprise more than 25 percent of home buyers in California -- and with the availability of loan options, that statistic may continue to grow.
Independent Realtor Rosemary Fissell sees those numbers in action. In her course of 28 years of helping clients buy and sell homes in Contra Costa County, the agent with Executive Brokers in Walnut Creek said "the singles are getting more prevalent than yesteryear." First-time buyers are typically between 25 and 35, she said, and they can take advantage of loan incentives, such as little or no down payment programs.
"There's more opportunities for a single person. The flip side is interest rates are going up, which reduces how much home you can quality for," said Randi DeHollander, mortgage consultant at Vintage Mortgage Group in Livermore.
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