Wells Fargo 2009 Annual Report Download - page 11

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Our world in 2010
Cold numbers like 9.7percent unemployment don’t begin to tell
the human story of pain and loss that many Americans su ered
this year. Our team members su ered right along with them
because many of those struggling are our own customers, our
neighbors, and our family members. Our customers need us
now more than ever for sound fi nancial advice. We welcome
them into our banking stores for kitchen table conversations
about their fi nances so we can work together to help them
succeed fi nancially.
The attitude of our customers shifted radically in 2009.
They’re more frugal than ever. They’re more serious about
balancing wants and needs. They’re saving and investing
and paying down debt as never before. Delayed gratifi cation
is back in style. Who’d have ever thought the retail “layaway”
plan would become fashionable again?
Creating good jobs is now Job #1 for our country.
WellsFargo — serving one of every three U.S. households —
wants to help make that happen. Our economy is still losing
jobs, the U.S. economy remains fragile and the labor market
bleak and probably will be for much of 2010, but the economy
is improving. Many companies are in good fi nancial shape.
Inventories, payrolls and equipment spending are low. Cash
is king. Many balance sheets are strong. Infl ation and interest
rates remain low. Now more than ever, we want to be there for
our commercial and small business customers to help them
expand and grow and hire.
Being there rain or shine I hear people say banks don’t want
to lend anymore. Or the old saw: A banker is someone who
will lend you an umbrella on a sunny day. I can assure you, the
banker who’s open for business only on sunny days will soon
go out of business. Next time it rains, check to see how many
customers left that banker and took their money down the
street to a competitor who can stay with them rain or shine.
The economy we live in today is that rainy day. We want to be
loyal to customers who’ve been loyal to us. These are the times
that test that loyalty. We can’t make every customer happy. We
also make some mistakes. And, there are loans that shouldn’t
be made. We do not believe in lending to a customer who we
believe doesn’t show the ability to pay the loan back under its
terms or in making a loan without the proper documentation.
But there are lots of customers who need fi nancing today who
can qualify. And we are lending. We’re taking a second look at
many of the loan applications we deny to make sure we made
the right decision for the customer and our company. We expect
to increase our small business lending as much as 25 percent in
2010 to more than $16 billion if the economy improves and with
disciplined credit underwriting.
Our biggest challenge in 2010 will be aggressively looking
for creditworthy customers who need not just fi nancing but
sound fi nancial advice and the benefi t of a full relationship that
can last a lifetime. Credit is available. The amount of credit
customers are using on their lines of credit today is as low as
I’ve ever seen. That’s why we’re hiring hundreds of bankers —
more feet on the street — to fi nd as many good loans as possible.
Every recession has an end and then comes growth, but
our nation still must absorb an oversupply of goods, labor
and housing. To reduce unemployment, our capitalist, free-
enterprise system — the envy of the world — needs breathing
room so Americans can be free to do what they do best: Create
and innovate and build and rebuild.
Thank you, Dick!
On behalf of our Board and all team members, a special
thank you to Dick Kovacevich, who retired December30th
after 23stellar years with our company. One year ago, Dick
was scheduled to retire, but agreed at the Board’s invitation
to continue as chairman through 2009 to help us successfully
integrate Wachovia into WellsFargo. More than 20years ago,
he crafted and propagated our groundbreaking vision that
remains solidly in place today: We want to satisfy all our
customers’ fi nancial needs and help them succeed fi nancially.
We call it “The Vision That Works.” We bring it to life for you
as the theme of this Report on pages 10–29.
Dick leaves a great legacy and, most importantly, a great
team ready for even more growth and success. We wish him
and his wife, Mary Jo, and their family all the best.
We thank all our team members for working together to
earn more of our customers’ business during a very di cult
year for our country and our industry, and for collaborating
so e ectively to complete the fi rst year of the Wachovia-
WellsFargo integration. We thank our customers for entrusting
us with more of their business and for returning to us for their
next fi nancial services product. And we thank you, our owners,
for your confi dence in WellsFargo as we begin our 159thyear.
We can’t control the economy. We can control who we are,
what we do and how we do it. In my 28years with the company,
Ibelieve this was the best year we’ve ever had for putting us in
a position for future growth — because of our vision and values,
time-tested business model, team member talent, liquidity,
capital, ability to generate revenue from such a diversity of
businesses and geographies, and because of the success to date
of the WellsFargo-Wachovia merger.
John G. Stumpf
Chairman, President and Chief Executive O cer