Wells Fargo, the fourth largest US bank by assets, on Wednesday posted record third quarter profits as revenues were more than double the bank’s slowing credit costs and savings from its merger with East coast rival Wachovia began to materialise. Profit almost doubled to $3.2bn over the same quarter last year, boosting diluted earnings per share by 14 per cent from the third quarter of 2008 to 56 cents, the San Francisco-based bank said in a statement. Wells said credit losses were lower for both consumer and commercial loans in the quarter. The bank added it estimated that losses on Wachovia’s portfolio of option adjustable rate mortgages – long a source of concern for investors and analysts – would be lower than its original projections. Wells’ integration of Wachovia also contributed to the strong quarter as Wells said the bank is now realising a third of the projected savings from the merger. Wells added it estimates it will now spend around $5.5bn in merger costs, compared with its previous $7.9bn estimate.