Wells Fargo on track for $4 billion in expense reductions

BOSTON (Reuters) – Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N) on Thursday said it expects efficiency efforts to cut expenses by $2 billion annually in 2018 and 2019, and that the aftertax impact on net income of a regulatory cap on its assets will be less than $100 million in 2018.

Wells Fargo gave the figures in an investor presentation posted on the San Francisco bank’s website. It said it expects net interest income to be “relatively stable” in 2018 as projected higher interest rates will be offset by lower earning assets and increases in deposit costs.

For 2018, the bank said it expects that total noninterest expenses will be between $53.5 billion and $54.5 billion, and between $52 billion and $53 billion for 2019. Both ranges include typical operating losses and exclude litigation and remediation items, the bank said.

Investors said this week they were looking for updates on how long the bank would stay in the regulatory doghouse, and would be looking for details about costs on Thursday as questions remained about the lender’s ability to grow its balance sheet.

A series of scandals over sales and lending practices at the San Francisco-based Wells Fargo has cast a dark cloud over the bank, which previously was known for its ability to consistently grow revenue and earnings in the post-crisis era.

It is now under orders by the Federal Reserve to keep assets below $1.95 trillion until governance and controls improve, which has complicated matters as the bank tries to improve its closely watched efficiency ratio measuring costs per dollar of revenue.

Last month, Wells Fargo agreed to pay $1 billion to settle with U.S. regulators who said it wrongly layered insurance on hundreds of thousands of drivers and hit homebuyers with excessive fees. It also has paid millions of dollars in fines after admitting it opened sham accounts for customers.

Wells Fargo has revamped its leadership since the scandal erupted in 2016 and got a boost on April 24 when directors including Chief Executive Tim Sloan and Chair Elizabeth Duke handily won shareholder support.