Wells has bought back $5.5 billion of its stock so far this quarter. That's the most the bank has bought back in a single quarter all year... That is a huge sign of confidence from CFO Mike Santomassimo, who said that he's seeing green shoots now that the Fed has removed the asset cap penalty on Wells. I'd be a buyer if we didn't already own so much of it from my charitable trust.
Of course, forming unions at small banks and credit unions is one thing. It's quite another to attempt it at Wells Fargo, a bank with $1.9 trillion in assets and an estimated 217,000 workers. The union effort at Wells Fargo remains small, but workers at a growing number of branches are voting in favor of unionization, early signs of a possible sea change in labor relations in the banking industry.
Discipline over flash: Trained for toughly two decades under now-JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Scharf learned to make hard calls with steadiness, not showmanship. That discipline has driven cost cuts, a flatter structure, and operational fixes that pared headcount by nearly a quarter and reduced Wells Fargo's vast real estate footprint. Calm over charisma: Scharf leads quietly but firmly, those who know him say, lowering the temperature in tense moments while remaining uncompromising on performance.
At the time, Wells had been laboring under a regulatory crackdown unleashed by the cataclysm that blackened the formerly burnished Wells name, the heavily publicized scandal revealing that the bank had bilked millions of customers by creating fake and unneeded accounts at its branches. That culminated in a draconian penalty imposed by the Federal Reserve: a hard limit on its total assets that essentially blocked Wells from raising the deposits that form the lifeblood of banking.
Wells Fargo's adoption of Google Agentspace marks a bold step forward in making banking simpler and smarter—for our customers and employees. By leveraging advanced agentic AI capabilities, we can get answers and insights faster, work more efficiently, and free up time to focus on what matters most: helping people reach their financial goals.
"Build trust before going public." - This advice emphasizes the importance of establishing a foundation of confidence among potential union members before making their intentions known.