Wells Fargo expects overall loan growth to continue this year, with credit cards and auto lending leading the way, while its mortgage business is showing signs of stabilizing after a prolonged downturn, Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the UBS Financial Services Conference, Santomassimo highlighted steady momentum in the card portfolio.
“On the card side, we’re seeing good growth there. It’s been pretty consistent now for a while. It’s really driven by the newer products that we’ve launched over the last three or four years,” he said.
That momentum is expected to carry through the rest of the year as the bank introduces additional credit card offerings aimed at segments such as wealth management clients and other targeted customer groups, Santomassimo added.
Wells Fargo is recalibrating its growth strategy to rely entirely on organic expansion after the U.S. Federal Reserve lifted the long-standing $1.95 trillion asset cap in June. The removal of the cap—imposed following the bank’s fake accounts scandal—eliminated a key constraint and cleared the way for balance sheet growth.
With that restriction gone, the bank is moving forward with plans to expand its balance sheet, supported by stable credit quality and increasing investment in areas such as credit cards, auto loans and investment banking.
In auto lending, Santomassimo said recent quarters have delivered solid growth, helped by Wells Fargo’s preferred financing partnerships with Volkswagen and Audi in the United States.
“We’re really liking the momentum that we have there. So we should expect to see some growth you know continue overall,” he said.
The auto business returned to growth in 2025, driven by stronger origination volumes and expanding loan balances.
Meanwhile, the downturn in mortgages is expected to ease, with activity likely to remain relatively flat over the course of the year, according to Santomassimo.
Consumer spending trends have also remained healthy. Debit and credit card activity was strong at the start of the year, which Santomassimo said positions the bank well on the consumer side.
“Credit performance is still very good. We’re not seeing signs of any systemic deterioration at all across the consumer or the commercial portfolios,” he said.