Wells Fargo announced that Saul Van Beurden, the current head of Consumer and Small Business Banking, will become the bank’s chief executive of its Artificial Intelligence organization. At the same time, Kleber Santos, who leads Consumer Lending, will take on expanded duties as co‑chief executive officer of the Consumer Banking and Lending segment, working alongside Van Beurden to drive digital innovation and customer experience in the bank’s largest revenue‑generating unit.
The move comes as Wells Fargo continues to pursue an “AI‑first” strategy that has already trained more than 90,000 employees and deployed AI tools to over 180,000 desktops in the past year. With assets of roughly $2.1 trillion and a market capitalization near $259 billion, the bank is positioning itself to use generative and agentic AI to improve underwriting, fraud detection, and personalized banking services, while maintaining responsible AI practices such as bias mitigation and transparency.
Wells Fargo’s most recent quarterly results—Q3 2025—showed net income of $5.6 billion and earnings per share of $1.66, a beat of $0.24 or 15% over analyst expectations. Revenue grew 5% year‑over‑year to $4.4 billion, driven by higher net interest income and a 7% increase in fee‑based income. The earnings beat was largely attributed to disciplined cost management and a favorable mix shift toward higher‑margin consumer products, while the AI investments are expected to generate incremental efficiencies and new revenue streams in the coming years.
Charlie Scharf, Chairman and CEO, said, “Generative and agentic AI will reshape competitive dynamics across every industry, and we are embracing these tools as we have embraced robotic process automation and machine learning for years.” He added that Van Beurden will partner with business leaders to ensure consistent progress and will be accountable for measurable results across the organization.
The co‑CEO structure for Consumer Banking and Lending is designed to accelerate decision‑making and execution in the segment that accounts for more than 40% of the bank’s total revenue. By pairing Van Beurden’s AI expertise with Santos’s deep knowledge of consumer lending, Wells Fargo aims to launch new AI‑powered product offerings, streamline loan origination, and enhance digital onboarding, thereby strengthening its competitive position against peers such as JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America.
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