Item 1 of 3 Charlie Scharf, Chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo, speaks to the Economic Club of New York in New York City, U.S., October 21, 2025. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
“We don’t feel the pressure to do any M&A whatsoever … We have amazing opportunities in every one of our businesses, we have scale in everything that we do,” he said in an interview.
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The U.S. Federal Reserve removed a $1.95 trillion asset cap on Wells Fargo in June, removing a major penalty for the bank’s fake-accounts scandal and opening the door to growth.
Scharf noted the bank will use the new room on its balance sheet that now exceeds $2 trillion in assets.
“We now can grow our checking accounts, we can grow deposits alongside that, we can grow the rest of our lending products … literally every one of the businesses we have plans to grow utilize the balance sheet,” he said.
Scharf has previously said he aims for Wells Fargo to become the top U.S. consumer and small business bank and wealth manager, as well as a top-five U.S. investment bank.
Analysts and investors expect Wells Fargo to move swiftly on its expansion plans under Scharf, who took charge in 2019, months after the bank’s fake-accounts scandal drew public outrage and billions of dollars in fines.
“We think (our future) is going to be extremely bright, with or without something that’s inorganic,” he said.
Reporting by Nivedita Balu in Toronto and Pritam Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Rod Nickel
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