Wells Fargo reported full-year 2024 net income of $19.7 billion on Wednesday, up from $19.1 billion in 2023. Fourth-quarter net income of $5.1 billion — a 47 per cent increase year-on-year — beat analyst estimates, with diluted earnings per share of $1.43 for the quarter.
The bank's fourth-quarter noninterest income rose 11 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier, driven by improved results from venture capital investments, higher asset-based fees in wealth and investment management and higher investment banking fees. Wells Fargo's shares rose 43 per cent in 2024.
NONINTEREST AND NET INTEREST INCOME
Net interest income remained under pressure from the competitive deposit environment and deposit mix and pricing changes, the impact of lower rates on floating-rate assets and lower loan balances, with fourth-quarter net interest income down 7 per cent year-on-year. Wells Fargo guided that 2025 net interest income would be roughly 1 to 3 per cent higher than 2024's $47.7 billion.
Wells Fargo's full-year diluted earnings per share were $5.37.
ASSET CAP
Wells Fargo continues to operate under the asset cap that the Federal Reserve imposed in 2018 following a series of consumer sales-practices scandals. The cap restricts the bank's total assets.
Chief Executive Charlie Scharf, who joined the bank in 2019, has presided over a multiyear programme of risk and control improvements designed to satisfy the Federal Reserve's conditions for lifting the cap. The bank has not indicated a firm timeline for when the restriction might be removed.