Wells Fargo Announces 3rd Quarter Non-Cash Charge for Lehman Brothers Structured Notes, Preferred Securities

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) said today that, as a result of the filing by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, it will record other-than-temporary impairment and take a non-cash charge to earnings in third quarter 2008 for its investments in senior unsecured notes and perpetual preferred securities issued by Lehman Brothers.

The Company’s investments in the notes and preferred securities are included in securities available for sale at a cost of approximately $90 million and $109 million, respectively. The notes currently trade at 25-30 cents on the dollar. The preferred securities currently trade at less than one percent of par value. The Company estimates that at September 12, 2008, it had approximately $50 million of unsecured counter-party exposure to Lehman Brothers. The Company has no direct lending exposure to Lehman Brothers, and the Wells Fargo Advantage Money Market Funds do not have any direct exposure to Lehman Brothers.