SAN FRANCISCO–Wells Fargo is seeing some strong early results of its efforts to grow after the Federal Reserve removed an asset cap it put on the bank in 2018 after an account-opening scandal, as well as other scandals.
In all, some 13 regulatory orders were imposed on the now $2.15 trillion Wells Fargo that sought to improve its risk and control initiatives changes the bank’s chairman and CEO, Charlie Scharf, said have helped it to grow even stronger.
“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 during a Q4 earnings call.
Card Business Gains 21%
Wells Fargo reported:
- In the consumer business, 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. Scharf said Wells Fargo grew while maintaining credit standards.
- In auto lending, 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 credited the growth to digital account openings, increased marketing and a continuing program of refurbishing branches.
