Wells Fargo & Company Q2 Earnings Call Highlights

Key Points

• Wells Fargo posted strong Q2 2026 results, with diluted EPS up 25% year over year to $2 and revenue rising 9%. Net income climbed 17% to $6.4 billion, helped by broad-based revenue growth across businesses and some discrete tax benefits.
• Business momentum was broad across consumer, wealth, and corporate banking. Consumer banking benefited from higher checking accounts, credit cards, and auto lending, while wealth management assets topped $2.4 trillion and investment banking fees set a quarterly record above $900 million.
• Credit quality and capital returns remained strong, with charge-offs improving and management maintaining its full-year outlook for roughly $50 billion in net interest income and about $55.7 billion in expenses. Wells Fargo also returned more than $9.8 billion to shareholders in the first half and plans to raise its quarterly dividend by 11% to $0.50, pending board approval.

Wells Fargo & Company NYSE: WFC reported stronger second-quarter 2026 results, with executives pointing to broad-based revenue growth, disciplined expenses, improved credit performance and balance sheet growth following the removal of the company’s asset cap last year.

Chief Executive Officer Charlie Scharf said diluted earnings per share rose 25% from a year earlier to $2, while revenue increased 9%. Net interest income grew 5%, and non-interest income rose 13%, reflecting what Scharf described as progress toward building a more balanced revenue mix with higher fee-based revenue.

“We are clearly benefiting from the economic strength we see in the U.S., but the investments we are making and our improved operating discipline drove strong momentum and continued to result in improved performance,” Scharf said.

Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said net income increased 17% year over year to $6.4 billion. The quarter included $132 million, or $0.04 per share, of discrete tax benefits tied to the resolution of prior-period matters.

Revenue Growth Across All Operating Segments

Scharf said each of Wells Fargo’s operating segments generated higher net interest income and non-interest income compared with a year earlier. In Consumer Banking and Lending, revenue rose 6%, helped by growth in checking accounts, credit cards and auto lending. Scharf said consumer primary checking accounts have increased year over year for 13 consecutive quarters, supported by investments in marketing and digital account opening.

Credit card momentum continued, with new accounts increasing 46% from a year earlier. Scharf said the company has enhanced its credit card products over the past five years and improved customer experience, but noted that rapid growth in the business carries near-term profitability pressure because of upfront costs tied to marketing, promotional rates, onboarding and reserves. He said card vintages from 2022 through 2024 are now adding to profitability, while larger 2025 and 2026 vintages are still absorbing upfront costs.

Auto lending also expanded, with originations rising 41% year over year and average balances up 31%. Scharf said growth was partly due to Wells Fargo becoming the preferred financing provider for Volkswagen and Audi vehicles in the U.S., adding that credit performance has remained in line with expectations.

In Wealth and Investment Management, revenue increased 13%. Client assets rose 15% to more than $2.4 trillion, driven by higher market valuations and four consecutive quarters of positive net flows. Scharf said Wells Fargo has invested more than $1 billion in recent years to modernize the unit’s technology platform, including the second-quarter launch of Advisor Gateway, a desktop platform with generative AI capabilities.

Investment Banking and Markets Drive CIB Results

Corporate and Investment Banking revenue rose 16% from a year earlier. Scharf said markets revenue grew 24%, aided by balance sheet growth to support client financing activity. He noted that while this activity can lower net interest margin because it carries lower spreads, it has “good returns and profitability” and can support broader client relationships.

Santomassimo said Wells Fargo has increased its markets balance sheet by $198 billion since the end of 2024, with about 60% in financing balances, 20% in trading and 20% in lending within the business. He said the company is tracking client-level results and is seeing additional business from clients receiving incremental financing.

Banking revenue within Corporate and Investment Banking rose 20%, supported by investment banking fees and activity in equity and debt capital markets. Santomassimo said firmwide investment banking fees exceeded $900 million in the quarter, a record. Scharf highlighted Wells Fargo’s year-to-date leveraged finance market share of 7.2%, its No. 3 ranking in that category, a 3.8% share in equity capital markets and a move from No. 9 to No. 4 among U.S. advisors by announced M&A deal volume.

Commercial Banking revenue increased 6% from a year earlier. Scharf said targeted hiring in 20 high-density markets where Wells Fargo is under-penetrated has helped drive client growth and higher loan and deposit balances. He also said the company is investing in treasury management and payments, including blockchain-based payment rails intended to make cross-border payments faster, more transparent and more predictable.

Expenses, Headcount and Capital Returns

Expenses increased 2% from a year earlier, reflecting investments in technology, advertising and revenue-related compensation, partially offset by efficiency initiatives. Santomassimo said Wells Fargo’s efficiency ratio improved to 60%, down four percentage points from a year earlier.

Scharf said headcount has declined for 24 consecutive quarters. The company ended the second quarter with 197,000 employees, down 79,000 from six years ago, 15,000 from last year and 3,500 from the prior quarter. He said Wells Fargo is using those efficiencies to fund investments including branch bankers, investment advisors, commercial banking relationship managers, investment bankers, traders, marketing, product development, AI and cybersecurity.

Wells Fargo returned more than $9.8 billion of capital to shareholders in the first half of 2026, including $7 billion of common stock repurchases. Santomassimo said the company repurchased $3 billion of common stock in the second quarter, and common shares outstanding declined 6% from a year earlier. The company’s common equity Tier 1 ratio was 10.3%, within its 10% to 10.5% target range and above its regulatory minimum plus buffers of 8.5%.

Scharf said Wells Fargo expects to raise its third-quarter common stock dividend by 11% to $0.50 per share, subject to board approval later this month.

Credit Quality Remains Strong

Executives said credit performance remained strong across consumer and commercial portfolios. Santomassimo said the net loan charge-off ratio declined 10 basis points from a year earlier to 34 basis points of average loans. Commercial net loan charge-offs declined to 10 basis points, while consumer loan charge-offs also improved, including continued net recoveries in residential mortgage.

During the question-and-answer session, Santomassimo said consumer delinquency trends have been better than the company modeled throughout the year, with no meaningful deterioration by FICO score or income cohort. He also said Wells Fargo is not seeing systemic issues in the commercial portfolio, though individual borrower issues can arise.

Asked about underwriting conditions, Scharf said consumer lending competition appears broadly consistent, but he described wholesale lending as more varied. He said significant capital is being deployed by banks and non-banks across risk assets, including areas related to data centers and strategic transactions. Scharf said Wells Fargo is staying within its risk tolerances and underwriting only the parts of transactions where it is comfortable with the credit profile.

Outlook Maintained as NIM Remains in Focus

Santomassimo said Wells Fargo is maintaining its full-year 2026 net interest income outlook of approximately $50 billion, including about $48 billion excluding markets and about $2 billion from markets. He said average loans rose 12% year over year in the second quarter, and loan growth in the fourth quarter is likely to exceed the mid-single-digit increase the company assumed in January.

Net interest margin declined four basis points from the first quarter, which Santomassimo attributed mainly to growth in interest-bearing deposits and continued growth in markets activity. He said Wells Fargo expects modest net interest margin compression in the third quarter, broadly in line with the second-quarter decline, before stabilization in the fourth quarter.

In response to analyst questions, Scharf emphasized that the pressure on net interest margin is tied to deliberate growth decisions, particularly in markets financing and interest-bearing deposit growth, rather than factors simply “happening” to the company. He said Wells Fargo can slow or reverse some activity if it does not generate the expected returns, but added that early results show higher trading revenue and share gains from clients receiving financing.

Wells Fargo also maintained its 2026 non-interest expense outlook of approximately $55.7 billion. Santomassimo said first-half expenses were in line with expectations, and higher revenue-related expenses in the second half are expected to be offset by efficiency initiatives elsewhere.

Scharf reiterated confidence in Wells Fargo’s medium-term target of a sustainable return on tangible common equity of 17% to 18%. The company reported ROTCE of 17.7% in the second quarter and 16.1% for the first half of 2026. Scharf said venture capital equity gains helped returns in the quarter, but he said broader growth and efficiency trends are what support confidence in reaching the target over a “reasonable timeframe,” assuming favorable conditions continue.

About Wells Fargo & Company NYSE: WFC

Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified, U.S.-based financial services company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1852 by Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, the firm has evolved from its origins in express delivery and pioneer-era banking into one of the largest full-service banks in the United States. The company provides a broad range of financial products and services to individual, small business, commercial, and institutional clients. Charles W. Scharf serves as chief executive officer.

Wells Fargo operates across several core business segments, including consumer banking and lending, commercial banking, corporate and investment banking, and wealth and investment management.

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