Wells Fargo has announced that Kleber Santos will become CEO of Consumer Banking and Lending (CBL), while Saul Van Beurden will focus exclusively on leading AI across the company. The two executives have served as co-CEOs of CBL since its formation in 2025. Van Beurden also established and has led the bank's AI efforts during that time.
Both executives will continue to report to Charlie Scharf, the bank's Chairman and CEO, and will remain on Wells Fargo's Operating Committee. "We have significant opportunities to grow our consumer businesses and to use AI to transform how we operate and serve our customers," Scharf said.
NEW REMITS FOR BOTH EXECUTIVES
Santos will assume full responsibility for CBL, building on growth across Consumer Deposits, Credit Cards, Business Banking and Auto lending. CBL is one of the bank's four reportable operating segments, alongside Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management.
Van Beurden will concentrate on building Wells Fargo's capabilities for enterprise-scale AI adoption. He will work closely with Bridget Engle, head of Technology, and with business leaders to drive transformation across the company. He will also strengthen the bank's work with leading AI companies.
HOW THE CO-CEO STRUCTURE CAME ABOUT
The co-CEO arrangement dates from November 2025, when Wells Fargo said Van Beurden, then CEO of Consumer and Small Business Banking, would lead AI for the company. At the same time Santos, then CEO of Consumer Lending, took on expanded responsibilities as co-CEO of Consumer Banking and Lending alongside Van Beurden.
The bank described the formal combination of the businesses as a natural outgrowth of how the two already worked. It said they had been working closely for some time to deliver a seamless experience for consumers.
Van Beurden was the bank's head of technology from 2019 to 2023, and then took charge of consumer and small-business banking. He previously worked as Chief Information Officer for JPMorgan Chase & Co.
BUILDING ON THE BANK'S AI ROLLOUT
Scharf said in 2025 that generative and agentic AI would reshape competitive dynamics across every industry. He added that the bank was embracing these tools as it had embraced robotic process automation and machine learning for years. In August 2025, Wells Fargo announced it was beginning to roll out generative and agentic AI to all 215,000 of its employees.
By late 2025, the bank's technology team had trained over 90,000 employees and deployed AI tools to over 180,000 desktops. The bank said it was then beginning to implement use cases more broadly.
SCALE OF THE BANK
Wells Fargo now has approximately $2.3 trillion in assets, up from approximately $2.1 trillion in late 2025. It ranked No. 38 on Fortune's 2026 rankings of America's largest corporations, compared with No. 33 in the 2025 rankings.
Related: Wells Fargo third-quarter profit rose 6% as loans and deposits expanded