Wells Fargo starts to emerge from sales scandal as first-quarter profits jump Noor Zainab Hussain and David Henry Reuters Bookmark Please log in to listen to this story. Also available in French and Mandarin. Log In Create Free Account Getting audio file ... This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy. Full Disclaimer Wells Fargo & Co beat Wall Street profit expectations on Wednesday as it reduced bad loan provisions and reined-in costs, signaling the bank may finally be emerging from a sales practices scandal that has dogged it for nearly five years. Profits at the country’s fourth-largest lender rebounded to nearly $5 billion in the first quarter of 2021 as the improved economic outlook allowed it to cut its cushion for losses on pandemic-hit loans by $1.6 billion, and as it got a grip on costs relating to fixing its product mis-selling scandals.