Wells Fargo 2006 Annual Report Download - page 10

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Beginning on page 10 of this report, we tell the stories of
11 of our customers. Each came to us with an everyday financial
problem or need all of us are familiar with—how to qualify for
a home equity loan, what to do when your checking account is
overdrawn through no fault of your own, or how to manage
personal finances after the death of a spouse. They did not see
themselves as coming to our bank, our mortgage company, our
website, our investment businesses, our consumer finance
company or our insurance business. They came to Wells Fargo,
period, because that’s the way they see us. In many of these
situations a Wells Fargo team member took personal responsibility
to make sure that our businesses—collaborating together
(sometimes dozens or hundreds of our team members behind the
curtain)—satisfied the customer’s financial need smoothly and
simply. In most of these situations, we not only satisfied that
need but earned even more of that customer’s business.
Diversified. Nationwide. And Growing!
Despite the challenges and uncertainty ahead for our economy
and our industry in 2007, we’re as optimistic, as ever, about our
ability to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them
succeed financially. We have one vision. We’ve made steady,
measurable progress toward it for more than 20 years. We have
an effective, time-tested business model. We have great people.
We have a very strong, well-understood culture. We have one
of the broadest, most extensive product lines in our industry.
We’re also in the fastest-growing markets in the United States,
the world’s most dynamic, prosperous national economy.
One of our best-kept secrets is our recent growth in the
eastern United States. Almost half our Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage and Wells Fargo Financial stores in the United States
are in states outside our Community Banking states, and almost
one of every five of our Wholesale Banking offices is east of
the Mississippi. In Florida, for example, we have 133 stores
(mortgage, consumer finance and commercial banking), and
we’re one of its 40 largest private employers. We have 51 stores
in Maryland, headquarters for our national Corporate Trust
business, and we’re one of that state’s 50 largest private employers.
In Pennsylvania, we employ almost 2,000 team members,
have 55 stores, and it’s national headquarters for our Auto
Finance business.
We have no compelling need for a retail banking presence in
the eastern United States. That’s because we have such tremendous
untapped opportunity for more market share growth in our
community banking states in the Midwest, the Southwest,
the Rockies, the West and the Pacific Northwest. We estimate
we have only about 3 percent market share of total household
financial assets in those states. Consider the approximate
population growth rates of just nine of our fastest-growing
Community Banking states:
More Growth Ahead
2000–2005 2005–2025
Population Growth Projected*
Nevada +17.7% +64.2%
Arizona +14.4 +62.4
Texas + 9.2 +35.5
Idaho + 8.7 +31.7
Utah + 8.3 +33.4
Colorado + 7.4 +19.6
California + 6.4 +22.9
Washington + 5.3 +28.9
Oregon + 5.1 +26.1
United States + 5.0 +18.3
We must help our team members
serve our customers faster and
more easily so that every
customer interaction is simple,
obvious and intuitive.
* Sources:
www.census.gov/population/projections/PressTab6.xls
www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0763098.html