Wells Fargo & Co. may not be done shedding assets as it rethinks its business following its sham-accounts scandal.
After announcing the sale of both its shareholder-services and commercial insurance subsidiaries in the last month, the San Francisco-based bank is considering cutting even more amid a broad review of its operations.
Chief financial officer John Shrewsberry said over the weekend that management is eyeing the disposal of “smaller” assets worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” while the company doubles down on products that are “more relevant” to its customers.
“We get a little bit smaller, a little bit less complex and we can focus on what we’re good at,” Shrewsberry told the Financial Times. “There are a handful of businesses in our mindset. They’re not at the scale of most of our businesses … not top-tier providers.”
He didn’t specify which divisions or businesses faced the chopping block. The bank has almost $2 trillion in assets, the third most in the U.S., behind JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, and it’s a clear leader in several consumer lines of business.
It’s the largest retail mortgage lender in the country, and the bank also holds the top spot in used auto loans and student loans. In addition, it’s the top debit card issuer in terms of purchase and transaction value.
The bank declined any comment Monday, instead referring to remarks Chief Executive Timothy Sloan made in an earnings call last week.
“For those businesses that we don’t believe are as core to our platform, but (also) maybe they can grow better in the hands of others, we’ve decided to exit those,” Sloan said. “If something doesn’t fit, we’ll move on.”
Regulators fined the company $185 million last September after employees driven by onerous sales goals opened millions of unauthorized checking, saving and other accounts. In the wake of the scandal, Wells Fargo Chief Executive John Stumpf resigned and the company revised its incentive system.
