Wells Fargo unlikely to bid for big rival: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) wants to buy insurance distribution and wealth management companies but it's "highly unlikely" it will bid for a large banking rival, Chief Executive John Stumpf told the Financial Times in an interview.

Many investors and analysts have speculated that Wells Fargo, the fifth-largest U.S. banking company by assets, might be a potential suitor for Wachovia Corp WB.N and Washington Mutual Inc WM.N, which rank fourth and sixth, respectively.

Those companies have suffered far more from housing and mortgage problems than San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, which has remained profitable despite also being the nation's second-largest U.S. mortgage lender.

"A large transformational deal is highly unlikely. Not impossible, but highly unlikely," Stumpf said in the interview. "We don't need to do a deal. Organic growth is the core growth engine in this company."

Stumpf noted that since Norwest Corp bought Wells Fargo in 1998 and took its name, the bank has focused on small purchases of companies in the Western two-thirds of the United States.

On August 13, Wells Fargo agreed to buy Dallas-based Century Bancshares Inc, adding 28 branches in Texas and four in Arkansas. The latter will become the 24th U.S. state where it has branches.

Wells Fargo shares were down 60 cents at $28.76 in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Through Friday, they were off 3 percent this year, compared with a 28 percent drop in the KBW Bank Index.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)