Overview
Wells Fargo & Company is a diversified financial services company and U.S. bank holding company founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco. It provides banking, investment, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services to individuals, businesses, and institutions, with operations organized around four main segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management.[1][2][3][4]
The company’s stated vision is to satisfy customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo’s franchise is centered on the United States but includes an international presence; the company says it serves customers through more than 7,300 locations, 12,000 ATMs, digital channels, and offices in over 40 countries and territories.[4]
Wells Fargo is one of the largest banking organizations in the United States. At December 31, 2024, it reported about $1.9 trillion in assets, $912.7 billion in loans, $1.4 trillion in deposits, and $179.1 billion in stockholders’ equity, and it had approximately 217,000 active employees, about 77% of them based in the U.S. Based on its reported quarterly results, total revenue for 2024 was about $82.3 billion.[5][6][7][8][9][10] [1][2][3][5][6][4][7][8][9][10]
Products & services
Wells Fargo’s consumer lineup includes checking and savings accounts, credit and debit cards, auto lending, residential mortgage lending, personal lending, and small business lending as core product categories.[11] Named deposit products on its retail platform include Clear Access Banking, a checkless account with no overdraft fees plus mobile deposit, Bill Pay, and Zelle; Everyday Checking, which supports checks, a contactless debit card, digital wallets, Bill Pay, Zelle, and overdraft features including an Extra Day Grace Period; Platinum Savings, which offers branch and ATM access, optional check-writing, and relationship-rate pricing when linked to an eligible checking account; and Certificates of Deposit, which provide fixed terms and a guaranteed rate until maturity.[12][13][14][15] [11][12][13][14][15]
Geographic presence
Wells Fargo operates across all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, and it also has operations in countries outside the United States. Its principal executive offices are in San Francisco, California, at 420 Montgomery Street.[16][17]
At December 31, 2024, the company occupied about 61.3 million square feet of property for business operations, including 55.1 million square feet in the United States and 6.2 million square feet internationally. Its largest U.S. location concentrations were in Charlotte-Concord-Gastonia (5.7 million square feet), Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington (3.0 million), New York-Newark-Jersey City (2.8 million), Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim (2.7 million), Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler (2.5 million), and the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley metro area (2.4 million, including the corporate headquarters), with additional sizable footprints in St. Louis, Dallas-Fort Worth, Des Moines, San Antonio, and the Washington, D.C. metro area. Internationally, its largest property footprint was in India (4.3 million square feet), followed by the Philippines (1.3 million) and the United Kingdom (0.2 million). The company states that these banking locations and offices are used across all reportable operating segments and for corporate purposes.[18][19]
Wells Fargo had approximately 217,000 active employees at year-end 2024, with about 77% based in the United States, indicating that its workforce remains predominantly U.S.-based despite maintaining international operations and office hubs.[6] [16][17][18][19][6]
Business segments
Wells Fargo reports four operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management [3]. Consumer Banking and Lending serves consumers and small businesses with annual sales generally up to $10 million, offering deposit accounts, cards, and home, auto, personal, and small-business lending; based on 2024 quarterly segment revenue disclosures, it contributed about $36.2 billion of revenue, or roughly 43% of combined reportable-segment revenue [20][21][22][23][24]. Commercial Banking provides banking and credit products, secured lending and lease products, and treasury management to private, family-owned, and certain public companies; its 2024 revenue was about $12.8 billion, or roughly 15% of combined reportable-segment revenue [25][21][22][23][26].
Corporate and Investment Banking provides capital markets, banking, and financial products to corporate, commercial real estate, government, and institutional clients globally, including corporate banking, investment banking, treasury management and payments, commercial real estate lending and servicing, and markets activities such as fixed income and equities; it generated about $19.3 billion of 2024 revenue, or roughly 23% of combined reportable-segment revenue [27][21][22][23][28]. Wealth and Investment Management focuses on personalized wealth management, brokerage, financial planning, lending, private banking, and trust and fiduciary services for affluent, high-net-worth, and ultra-high-net-worth clients; it contributed about $15.4 billion of 2024 revenue, or roughly 18% of combined reportable-segment revenue [29][21][22][23][30]. [3][20][25][27][29][21][22][23][24][26][28][30]
Company history
Wells Fargo traces its origins to March 18, 1852, when Henry Wells, William G. Fargo, and others formed a banking and express company to serve customers tied to the California gold rush. In its early decades, the business expanded across the American West; Wells Fargo’s history records that by April 1867 it had taken over most long-distance stagecoach lines in the region, and by the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake it was operating as Wells Fargo Nevada National Bank.[31][32][33]
In the modern era, the company was reshaped by major acquisitions and mergers. In 1996, Wells Fargo received regulatory approval to acquire First Interstate Bancorp and merge First Interstate’s national banks into Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., expanding its western U.S. franchise.[34][35] In 1998, Norwest Corporation acquired Wells Fargo & Company, with the combined company operating under the Wells Fargo name.[36][37] In 2008, Wells Fargo agreed to acquire Wachovia, a transaction that further broadened its national scale.[38][39] [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]
Sources
- WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN — Full financial report (2024 Y)
- www.wellsfargo.com[4]
- www.wellsfargo.com[7]
- www.wellsfargo.com[8]
- www.wellsfargo.com[9]
- www.wellsfargo.com[10]
- www.wellsfargo.com[12]
- www.wellsfargo.com[13]
- www.wellsfargo.com[14]
- www.wellsfargo.com[15]
- WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN — Full financial report (2023 Y)[16]
- WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN — Press release (2024 Y)
- WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN — Full financial report (2024 Q 1)[21]
- WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN — Full financial report (2024 Q 2)[22]
- WELLS FARGO & COMPANY/MN — Press release (2024 Q 3)[23]
- history.wf.com[31]
- history.wf.com[32]
- history.wf.com[33]
- www.justice.gov[34]
- www.occ.treas.gov[35]
- www.federalreserve.gov[36]
- history.wf.com[37]
- www.federalreserve.gov[38]
- www.wellsfargo.com[39]
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