The results of that more assertive posture should include stronger growth and an improved return on tangible common equity, Santomassimo said Tuesday at Morgan Stanley's U.S. Financials Conference in New York. But he was quick to add the rewards would accrue over time, not as a lump-sum benefit.
"When you look across the businesses, there should be really good growth opportunities in really all of them, mortgage aside," Santomassimo said. "That will play out over a long time. We always are a little bit cautious here. It's not a light-switch moment. It doesn't happen, Tuesday the asset cap is off, Wednesday that growth accelerates."
Santomassimo's comments echoed those of CEO Charlie Scharf, who said in a June 3 appearance on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" that the asset cap's termination changed only the perception of Wells as "being in the penalty box," and that enhanced profitability would take time.
"The reality is, going forward, as time evolves and as the world evolves, we have the opportunity … to expand in a very methodical way, built on the processes we built," Scharf told host Jim Cramer.
Santomassimo provided a hint Tuesday of what that methodical approach will look like: Improving and expanding the bank's branch network, along with increasing its emphasis on investment banking and capital markets.
He noted that Wells has been refurbishing many of its branches. "We're through 1,500 or close to 2,000 of them," Santomassimo said." I think we'll refurbish 750 of them this year alone. We're going to work our way through that."
And he said that Wells is investing in its branch staff. "We're adding wealth advisors to service the affluent opportunity," Santomassimo explained. "The growth that we should see should be significant over a long period of time. … Not only growing the core checking accounts and banking business, but also cards, wealth and the other things we can do with clients coming out of that channel."
Santomassimo's comments indicate Wells' has reached something of an inflection point with regards to branches, after closing more than 1,600 offices over the past seven years.
Deposits are an area where Wells is likely feeling a special urgency. Its deposits totaled $1.34 trillion at March 31, roughly the same amount that the company reported following the first quarter of 2019.
Most of Wells' big-bank competitors managed to increase their deposit books substantially over the same span. JPMorgan Chase, for example, reported a 56% increase in deposits, to $2.4 trillion. Bank of America grew its deposits by 43%, to $2 trillion.
In a research note last week, Wolfe Research analyst Steven Chubak estimated Wells "missed out" on roughly $540 billion of deposit growth since 2019 because of the asset cap. Commercial deposit growth has been particularly constrained, according to analysts.
Santomassimo also spoke Tuesday about Wells' opportunities in capital markets, which has been "the most constrained of the businesses, given the asset cap."
'We just haven't been able to allocate the balance sheet we would like, so that business will have more flexibility now that the asset cap is gone," he said.
In recent weeks, analysts have predicted that Wells will use the end of the asset to ignite growth in its trading business. Morgan Stanley analyst Betsy Graseck predicted in a June 4 research note that "an unconstrained Wells will put balance sheet and capital to work in markets, supporting and financing client trading activity."
But even in capital markets, growth will be slow and steady, with Wells "systematically investing in technology and people to build out the right capabilities," Santomassimo said.
In a recent interview, Edward Jones analyst James Shanahan predicted that Wells would have a keen interest in building its markets business.
"Equity and debt capital markets is an area where they could deploy capital immediately and achieve very favorable risk-adjusted returns," Shanahan told American Banker.
"There isn't really a significant amount of loan growth going on right now, certainly in the world of [commercial-and-industrial] loans," Shanahan said. "There's a lot of other areas where there are going to be opportunities to grow. The way I'm thinking is they will be as cautious and prudent as they've ever been, particularly as regards to credit risk."
Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz wrote in a recent research note that economic uncertainty and tepid demand for loans, especially commercial loans, has done more to hamper new business development since the start of 2025 than the asset cap has.
"As we think about the implications for this year, we don't expect the asset cap removal to spur a sudden increase in loans," Horowitz wrote.
The Federal Reserve imposed the asset cap on Wells in February 2018, limiting the size of its balance sheet to about $1.9 trillion. The cap, a first-of-its-kind punishment, was imposed after the disclosure of a
The cap crimped numerous aspects of
