Wells Fargo is beginning to see the fruits of its efforts to revive growth in the consumer business, CFO Mike Santomassimo said Tuesday, and the bank expects better branch productivity to help fuel further growth this year.
The CFO, speaking at a UBS conference, highlighted how the San Francisco-based bank has been laying the groundwork for consumer deposit growth over the past several quarters.
Net new checking account growth was stronger in 2025 than 2024, although Wells doesn’t report figures on that metric. The bank’s consumer deposits rose about 1% year over year, to $791 billion, for the fourth quarter.
To fix the sales practices issues that landed the bank in trouble with regulators, Wells needed to “tear down” the incentive systems and mechanisms previously used to grow the consumer bank and rebuild them, Santomassimo said.
And due to the $1.95 trillion asset cap the Federal Reserve imposed on the bank, Wells avoided digital marketing to grow the unit “aggressively,” Santomassimo said.
Chris Starr, the bank’s head of deposits, joined Wells two years ago, around the time it began reintroducing incentives and marketing.
“The focus from Day One that I got here, and the focus today and for the foreseeable future, is going to be to grow primary, consumer relationships and serve them in all aspects of their journey,” Starr said in a recent interview.
The rebuild Santomassimo referenced included implementing new incentive systems with the proper controls, refreshed marketing capabilities using current technology, and new employees.
The bank’s advertising and promotion spending rose steadily last year, totaling $1.09 billion for 2025 – a 26% increase over 2024, according to an earnings release. Recent Wells ads feature “Saturday Night Live” cast member Marcello Hernández and the voice of actor Owen Wilson.
“What you’re starting to see is the benefit of that come through in better checking account growth,” Santomassimo said.
The bank’s digital enhancements have driven much of that, and “as the branch system continues to get to the level of productivity that we expect, you'll start to see that be a more meaningful contributor to it,” Santomassimo said.
The bank’s deposits per branch remains below peers, and executives have highlighted the bank is working to improve efficiency and production levels within branches, Truist Securities analyst John McDonald noted in November. Wells currently has about 4,090 branches across the country.
In consumer deposits, Wells should grow faster than the market over time, CEO Charlie Scharf has said. Scharf’s top concern with the consumer bank is “creating the organic growth engine inside the company” and taking market share, he said in December.
“Our ability to take share now is dependent on our ability to execute with the competitive advantages that we have,” Scharf said.
Meanwhile, banks, fintechs and credit unions are all chasing more deposits and working to deepen relationships with their customers, creating a fiercely competitive landscape.
JPMorgan Chase, the biggest U.S. lender, didn’t report the deposit growth it had envisioned as 2025 came to a close, and expects lower growth this year than originally projected. Marianne Lake, CEO of the lender’s consumer and community banking, noted in December that yield-seeking behavior hasn’t moderated as much as the bank would have expected.
During U.S. Bank’s fourth-quarter earnings call Jan. 20, CFO John Stern attributed the bank’s 2.5%, or $7 billion, consumer deposit growth last year to the bank’s product set and its pricing capabilities.
“Not many peers grew consumer deposits this year,” he said last month. “It's a very competitive market.”
While Wells Fargo keeps an eye on what competitors are doing, Starr said the bank is focused on leveraging its size and scale. Competitive rates are one aspect of the bank’s value proposition, but Wells also aims to ensure it has a continuum of products and services as customer needs evolve and grow.
In addition to building and refurbishing branches and bolstering digital capabilities, Wells aims to keep close tabs on customer needs to inform further developments.
A recent survey Wells conducted indicated customers want to save more but struggle to do so. The bank aims to ensure clients are aware of its digital tools that can help them, such as setting up automatic transfers or asking virtual assistant Fargo about their spending on certain categories, Starr said.
The survey, one aspect that informs new products and services, emphasizes that there’s opportunity for Wells to do more in that regard, he added.
The lender frequently conducts research and collects feedback, “whether it's a process that's broken that needs fixed, or a new product, or a segment we're not necessarily serving,” Starr said. “We are using that to build our pipeline.”
Starr noted recent tweaks, like enabling customers to avoid a checking account’s monthly service fee if they do more with the bank, and enhanced benefits for premier checking clients.
“We really think that’s important, to continue to recognize our customers for their full relationship with us, and design products to incentivize them to want to hold more of their relationship with us,” Starr said.
