Wells Fargo profits fall in first full earnings report since account scandal

Wells Fargo, the third-largest bank in the United States, saw a fall in its profits during the final quarter of 2016 in its first full earnings report since its fake accounts scandal.

The San Francisco-based bank reported earnings per share of 96 cents, for profits of $5.27bn, compared with the corresponding quarter in 2015's profit of $5.58bn for $1 per share.

It also missed analysts' forecasts of $1 per share.

Revenue was slightly lower than the same quarter last year also, with Wells taking in $21.582bn, below expectations of $22.45bn from experts.

Wells Fargo was rocked after it agreed to a $185m settlement with regulators after opening over two million unauthorised accounts and credit cards without customers' knowledge.

The scandal led to the resignation of former CEO John Stumpf, with Timothy Sloan taking over at the helm of the company.

"We continued to make progress in the fourth quarter in rebuilding the trust of our customers, team members and other key stakeholders," Sloan said in a press release.

"I am pleased with the progress we have made in customer remediation, the ongoing review of sales practices across the company and fulfilling our regulatory requirements for sales practices matters."