The following is a summary of the Wells Fargo & Company (WFC) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript:

Financial Performance:

• Wells Fargo reported Q1 net income of $4.6 billion or $1.20 per diluted common share.
• The company saw a decrease of 8% in net interest income due to higher interest rates on funding costs and lower loan balances.
• Wells Fargo’s average loans went down for the past quarter and year.
• The company has repurchased $6.1 billion of common stock in the first quarter, resulting in a decrease of 6% in average common shares compared to a year ago.

Business Progress:

• Wells Fargo had a consent order from 2016 terminated by the OCC, which marked progress in their risk and control work.
• The company launched a new product, Autograph Journey, which helped increase credit card call spend by about $5 billion or 14% from a year ago.
• CEO Charlie Scharf acknowledged that the regulatory pressure on banks with longstanding issues like Wells Fargo remains high, and that further regulatory actions are possible until all work on risk and control is validated by regulators.
• Wells Fargo indicated a focus on investing to enhance control, grow faster, and yield higher returns while also improving efficiency.
• The company expressed confidence in improving business performance, continuing capital returns, and working within the limitations of its asset cap, with plans to leverage its broad institutional relationships to increase trading flow and invest in technology to support its aims.