City National Corp

City National Corp., parent of City National Bank, on Thursday said third quarter earnings were up 10% from a year earlier, to a record $37.5 million, or 75 cents a share. The Beverly Hills-based firm said it boosted its loan loss provision by $10 million in the quarter, to $137.2 million, reflecting "economic uncertainties" since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Wells Fargo & Co., the fourth-largest U.S. bank, said Tuesday that first-quarter profit rose 12% as gains on the sale of investments and branches bolstered revenue. Net income was $1.17 billion, or 67 cents a share, compared with $1.04 billion, or 61 cents, in the same period last year. The results matched analysts' estimates. Revenue rose 12% to $5.23 billion. Non-interest income rose 18% to $2.

City National Corp., founded 47 years ago as a bank for Hollywood movie stars, on Tuesday said it agreed to buy Reed, Conner & Birdwell, a Los Angeles money manager with $1.1 billion of client assets. The move is part of the larger global trend of consolidation among companies in different financial sectors. Mergers have been joining banks, brokerages, insurance companies and money-management firms as rules previously banning such combinations have come down.

City National Corp. said it plans to open an office in Palo Alto next week to provide banking services to technology start-ups and wealthy entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. The Beverly Hills-based bank hopes to capitalize on the record flow of venture capital into young companies and the resulting demand for banking and money-management services.

Highlighting Wall Street's skittishness about credit quality at U.S. banks, investors drove down shares of City National Corp. nearly 8% on Thursday, even as the Beverly Hills-based bank reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit. Investors seemed to be focusing instead on City National's $4-million provision for bad loans in its second quarter. Credit problems at other banks, including UnionBanCal Corp. and Wachovia Corp., have been blamed for falling earnings this year.

Ambitious City National Corp. made a surprise foray into Northern California on Wednesday, announcing a proposed $153-million acquisition that could signal the bank's evolution from a regional player into a larger, statewide financial institution. Beverly Hills-based City National said it would pay $29 a share for San Francisco-based Pacific Bank, which has 12 offices and $728 million in assets. The deal would bring City National's total assets to $7.5 billion.

City National Corp., a Beverly Hills-based banking company with $6.3 billion in assets, on Wednesday said second-quarter profit rose 11% as its City National Bank made more loans. Net income rose to $26.1 million, or 55 cents a share, from $23.6 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier. The bank met the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp.