Wells Fargo expects overall loan balances to expand this year, with management pointing to credit cards and auto loans as the main engines of growth and forecasting that mortgage activity will regain momentum after a period of declines, Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the UBS Financial Services Conference, Santomassimo highlighted the sustained recovery in the credit card business. "On the card side, we’re seeing good growth there. It’s been pretty consistent now for a while. It’s really driven by the newer products that we’ve launched over the last three or four years," he said, attributing recent gains to product introductions the bank has rolled out in recent years.
Looking ahead, Santomassimo said the credit card franchise should keep expanding as Wells Fargo introduces additional products targeted at segments including some of its wealth management clients and other specific pockets of demand. Those new offerings are part of the bank’s plan to broaden card penetration and deepen customer relationships.
Wells Fargo has shifted its growth strategy to rely exclusively on organic expansion since the U.S. Federal Reserve lifted a $1.95 trillion asset cap in June, a restriction imposed in the wake of the bank’s fake accounts scandal. The removal of the cap eliminated a major regulatory constraint and allowed the bank to pursue previously planned balance sheet growth.
With that constraint gone, the bank is moving forward with balance sheet expansion and beginning to scale investments in its cards business, auto lending and investment banking, while noting that credit quality remains solid.
On the auto lending front, Santomassimo pointed to strong recent performance tied to a preferred financing arrangement with Volkswagen and Audi in the United States. "We’re really liking the momentum that we have there. So we should expect to see some growth you know continue overall," he said.
The bank said its auto business had returned to growth in 2025, supported by higher origination volumes and rising loan balances. Meanwhile, the bank expects the prior decline in mortgage activity to moderate and to be roughly flat over the course of the year.
Santomassimo also said debit and credit spending remained robust at the start of the year, positioning the bank for a solid consumer performance this year. "Credit performance is still very good. We’re not seeing signs of any systemic deterioration at all across the consumer or the commercial portfolios," he added.
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