Wells Fargo Grew Assets by 11% After Fed Lifted Asset Cap

Wells Fargo is seeing early results of its efforts to grow after the Federal Reserve removed an asset cap it imposed on the bank in 2018 after an account-opening scandal.

The bank has been transforming itself since that asset cap and 13 regulatory orders were imposed, and the changes it made not only improved its risk and control initiatives but also positioned it for stronger growth and returns, Wells Fargo Chairman and CEO Charlie Scharf said Wednesday (Jan. 14) during a fourth-quarter earnings call.

“Since the lifting of the asset cap, we’ve been growing our balance sheet, and our assets grew 11% from a year ago, including broad-based loan growth and higher trading assets to help support our markets business,” Scharf said.

In the consumer business, Wells Fargo’s investments in its credit card business led to year-over-year gains of 21% in new credit card accounts and 6% in credit card balances in 2025, while maintaining credit standards, Scharf said.

In the auto business, the bank recorded stronger origination volumes and 19% growth in loan balances in 2025 compared to the previous year.

Within consumer, small and business banking, Wells Fargo had stronger growth in net checking account in 2025 than it had in 2024. Scharf attributed this growth to digital account openings, increased marketing and a continuing program of refurbishing branches.

“We continue to make enhancements to our mobile app, including making it significantly easier to open accounts, and in 2025, 50% of our consumer checking accounts were opened digitally,” Scharf said. “We also grew mobile active customers by 1.4 million in 2025, up 4% from a year ago.”

The Wells Fargo Premier offering for affluent clients gained momentum in 2025 as the bank added more licensed bankers and branch-based financial advisors in locations that present the best opportunities. Premier deposit and investment balances grew 14%.

“This remains a significant area of opportunity for us,” Scharf said.

Wells Fargo saw early gains in its commercial bank after adding 185 coverage bankers over the past two years. The bank saw improvements in new client acquisitions, loans and deposits.

Its investment banking and markets business earned 25% growth in fees from commercial banking clients in 2025.

“As I highlighted on our last call, our goal is to be a top 5 U.S. investment bank,” Scharf said.

In mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Wells Fargo increased its U.S. M&A ranking from twelfth in 2024 to eighth in 2025 and entered 2026 with “our deal pipeline meaningfully greater than it has been at any point in the last five years,” Scharf said.

“In summary, our strong performance in 2025 reflects the meaningful progress we’ve made to transform Wells Fargo, and our actions position us for continued higher growth and returns,” Scharf said.

For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.