Wells Fargo's Q4 2025 earnings call highlighted strong momentum with 17% YoY EPS growth, the fastest loan growth since 2020, and continued expense discipline. Management provided constructive 2026 guidance, including NII of ~$50B, mid-single-digit loan/deposit growth, and expense of $55.7B. Q4 2025 EPS $1.62 ($1.76 ex-severance); full-year net income $21.3B.
Wells Fargo's Q4 2025 earnings call highlighted strong momentum with 17% YoY EPS growth, the fastest loan growth since 2020, and continued expense discipline. Management provided constructive 2026 guidance, including NII of ~$50B, mid-single-digit loan/deposit growth, and expense of $55.7B. Q4 2025 EPS $1.62 ($1.76 ex-severance); full-year net income $21.3B.
Wells Fargo's Q4 2025 earnings call highlighted strong momentum with 17% YoY EPS growth, the fastest loan growth since 2020, and continued expense discipline. Management provided constructive 2026 guidance, including NII of ~$50B, mid-single-digit loan/deposit growth, and…
Q4 2025 EPS $1.62 ($1.76 ex-severance); full-year net income $21.3B.
ROTCE rose to 15% in 2025, with a new medium-term target of 17-18%.
2026 NII guided to ~$50B (core ~$48B, markets ~$2B), assuming 2-3 Fed rate cuts.
AI was mentioned only in passing as an enabler of future efficiency initiatives, with no specifics on products, adoption, or monetization.
Wells Fargo's guidance is constructive, with strong loan/deposit growth, rising ROTCE target of 17-18%, and positive operating leverage, supported by investments in markets, cards, and commercial banking.
Management is increasing investment spending in 2026, guiding to roughly $1.1 billion of incremental technology expense plus about $800 million of other investments across infrastructure, business capabilities, and growth initiatives. These are partly offset by ~$2.4 billion of gross efficiency saves. It also added balance-sheet capacity for markets, with trading-related assets up 50% in 2025.
Management stressed building momentum, raised the medium-term ROTCE target to 17-18%, and described the opportunity set as significant, while expressing confidence in both organic growth and continued efficiency gains.
“Given the nature of the underlying collateral and structural enhancements, these assets are lower-risk, lower-margin, but accretive to NII and support client engagement.”
“After two to three years of absorbing the upfront costs of our new products, we are beginning to see the early vintages contributing to profitability.”
| Metric | Period | Range | Midpoint | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RevenueNET_INTEREST_INCOME | FY2026 | $49B–$51B | $50B | GUIDED |
Wells Fargo's auto lending growth is partly driven by the VW/Audi partnership, indicating stronger origination volumes for VW's US captive finance channel.
“including benefiting from becoming the preferred financing provider for Volkswagen and Audi brands in the United States in the spring of last year.”
… ago. Credit card balances were up 6% from a year ago. And importantly, we've maintained our credit standards. After two to three years of absorbing the upfront costs of our new products, we are beginning to see the early vintages contributing to profitability. Our auto business returned to growth in 2025 with stronger origination volumes and 19% growth in loan balances from a year ago. Our results reflected growth across our portfolio including benefiting from becoming the preferred financing provider for Volkswagen and Audi brands in the United States in the spring of last year. The auto business goes through cycles, and we have intentionally scaled that growth in recent years. With the investments we have made to improve our capabilities, we are now well-positioned to methodically return to broad-spectrum lending. Importantly, we're focused on making sure we have the right level of profitability in this business, not just growth. We have made good progress in transforming and simplifying the home lending business. Over the past three years, we've reduced headcount by over 50% and the amount of third-party mortgage loans serviced by over 40%, including reducing the servicing …
WFC's credit card growth is increasingly reliant on new product vintages, with ~50% of balances now from products launched post-2021, yet initial vintages are only beginning to become profitable. — As WFC scales card issuance, it will likely lean on Visa/Mastercard networks, potentially boosting their payment volumes but also signaling intensifying competition in consumer lending.
… Let me walk you through how these actions are improving our business drivers, beginning with our consumer business. We have been investing in our credit card business since I joined Wells Fargo, and our focus has been driving strong outcomes. We opened nearly 3 million new credit card accounts in 2025, up 21% from a year ago. Credit card balances were up 6% from a year ago. And importantly, we've maintained our credit standards. After two to three years of absorbing the upfront costs of our new products, we are beginning to see the early vintages contributing to profitability. Our auto business returned to growth in 2025 with stronger origination volumes and 19% growth in loan balances from a year ago. Our results reflected growth across our portfolio including benefiting from becoming the preferred financing provider for Volkswagen and Audi brands in the United States in the spring of last year. The auto business goes through cycles, and we have intentionally scaled that growth in recent years. With the investments we have made to improve our capabilities, we are now well-positioned to methodically return to broad-spectrum lending. Importantly, we're focused on making …
Wells Fargo is explicitly growing lower-margin, asset-cap-driven markets financing (repo, client financing) which is RWA-light but helps push higher overall NII and market share.