Wells Fargo NII Rises as Markets and Banking Cool
Net interest income reached $12.517 billion in the third quarter as the taxable-equivalent margin held at 2.43%.
Wells Fargo (WFC) net interest income rose to $12.517 billion in the third quarter of 2026 from $12.317 billion in the second quarter, a 2% sequential increase, as higher loan and securities balances, Markets balance-sheet growth, and fixed-rate asset repricing more than offset lower rates on floating-rate assets, higher deposit costs on interest-bearing commercial deposits, and a modest decline in noninterest-bearing deposits.
The taxable-equivalent net interest margin held at 2.43%, unchanged from the second quarter after compressing from 2.47% in the first quarter. Average loans increased 1% sequentially to $1.0334 trillion from $1.0265 trillion. Average deposits rose 1% to $1.4829 trillion from $1.4656 trillion.
Corporate and Investment Banking average loans fell 2% to $353.4 billion. Commercial Banking loans rose 1% to $240.5 billion, and Wealth and Investment Management loans rose 5% to $95.4 billion. Commercial Banking deposits rose 5% to $198.9 billion, and Corporate and Investment Banking deposits rose 6% to $248.1 billion, while Consumer Banking and Lending deposits were essentially unchanged at $825.1 billion.
Corporate and Investment Banking Markets revenue fell 17% sequentially to $1.835 billion from $2.206 billion, with FICC down 18% to $1.262 billion and equities down 14% to $543 million, reversing second-quarter Markets growth of 24% year over year. CIB Banking revenue declined 1% to $1.986 billion from $2.013 billion, with Investment Banking down 3% to $611 million and Lending down 4% to $692 million, after Banking had grown 20% year over year in the second quarter.
Wealth and Investment Management revenue rose 5% sequentially to $4.104 billion from $3.892 billion, with client assets up 2% to $2.739 trillion from $2.691 trillion, after 13% year-over-year revenue growth in the second quarter. Consumer Banking and Lending revenue was $10.656 billion. Commercial Banking revenue was $3.236 billion.
Provision for credit losses increased 13% sequentially to $1.029 billion from $914 million, including a $46 million allowance build versus a $31 million build in the second quarter, reflecting higher allowances for C&I and auto loans on higher balances, partly offset by a lower CRE allowance. Net loan charge-offs rose 11% to $983 million from $883 million, lifting the annualized net charge-off rate to 0.38% from 0.34%. Commercial net charge-offs as a percent of average loans were 0.18%, up from 0.10%, on higher CRE and C&I charge-offs, while the consumer net charge-off rate fell to 0.70% from 0.74%. Commercial Banking provision for credit losses rose 83% to $240 million from $131 million, largely reflecting an allowance increase tied to loan growth.
Nonperforming assets declined $585 million sequentially to $7.359 billion, or 0.70% of loans, from $7.944 billion, or 0.77%, driven by lower CRE nonaccrual loans. Nonaccrual loans fell to $7.060 billion, or 0.67% of loans, from $7.643 billion, or 0.74%.
CET1 under the standardized approach declined 30 bps sequentially to 10.0% from 10.3% after the bank repurchased 28.6 million shares, or $2.5 billion, of common stock in the third quarter, versus 37.4 million shares, or $3.0 billion, in the second quarter. The common dividend was raised 11% to $0.50 a share from $0.45, as previously announced in the second-quarter release.
Total revenue fell 3% sequentially to $21.870 billion while noninterest expense was $13.743 billion, including an 8% headcount reduction, lower severance and lease expense, and higher revenue-related compensation and technology expense. The efficiency ratio worsened to 63% from 60%. Diluted earnings were $1.87 a share.