Wells Fargo (WFC) Barclays 22nd Annual Global Financial Services Conference 2024 summary

Macroeconomic and segment trends

• Consumers and commercial clients remain generally healthy, though lower-income consumers are experiencing more financial stress and higher delinquencies.

• Higher-income consumers retain strong liquidity and benefit from robust investment performance.

• Credit portfolios, including home lending and auto, are stable; card business is seeing expected maturation and slight deterioration post-COVID.

• Commercial clients are prudent with borrowing, facing margin compression and higher wage costs, but overall activity and credit performance remain solid.

• Year-over-year growth in debit and credit card spend is slowing but remains positive.

Strategic business updates

• Retail banking footprint remains strong, with ongoing investments in branches and personnel following past sales practice issues.

• Credit card business has been overhauled with nine new products; profitability expected to increase as new accounts mature, with more products in development.

• Corporate and investment bank is growing, with new talent and technology investments, and is seeing early signs of market share gains.

• Wealth management has improved advisor retention and is expanding in the independent advisor and affluent retail segments.

Financial performance and guidance

• No change to 2024 net interest income (NII) guidance of down 8–9%; deposit performance is stable, with targeted rate adjustments for sweep deposits.

• Loan growth remains muted, with card growth offset by weakness elsewhere; no major catalyst expected from near-term rate cuts.

• NII expected to trough toward year-end, with asset repricing and positive deposit trends as tailwinds.

• Fee income, especially from investment advisory, remains strong, with market conditions and fixed income prices influencing results.