Wells Fargo 2011 Annual Report Download - page 8

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student loans, personal loans, and lines of credit.
This can help our customers resolve past-due
accounts quickly and discreetly, and also reduce
our collectionwork.
We’re also putting the global needs of
our business customers first. This year we
relocated our branch in Shanghai, one of the
world’s most dynamic cities. This expanded
oce will play a critical role in supporting the
increasing number of WellsFargo customers
doing business in China and a growing number
of Chinese companies that want to grow their
business in the U.S. This is just one way we’re
positioned to continue to grow our international
business and serve our customers with an
expanded range of products and services.
2. Growing revenue
From WellsFargo’s Vision & Values:
“We can’t control the economy, interest
rates, the markets, or world events. We focus
on what we can control and what we can
sustain long term: our core performance,
ourrevenuegrowth.”
When we put customers first and help
them succeed financially, we strengthen
relationships, build loyalty, and earn trust.
Asaresult, our customers bring us more
business, we create more opportunities
for our team members, and we earn more
revenue to support our operations, growing
our earnings and shareholder return.
In 2011, WellsFargo grew its Tier1
common equity 1 (a bank’s core equity capital)
by $13.8billion, up 17percent. This was the
greatest increase among the four largest U.S.
banks, based on assets.
We grew revenue in many of our businesses
within Community Banking; Wealth, Brokerage
and Retirement; Consumer Lending; and
Wholesale Banking, including Commercial
Banking. However, our total revenue declined
during the year, reflecting lower interest rates,
new regulations, and the sluggish economy.
We’re confident we can grow revenue if
we stay true to our vision and attract new
customers through organic growth and
disciplinedacquisitions.
We have a huge opportunity to earn
more business from our current customers.
Our average retail bank household cross-sell
reached a record 5.92 products in 2011, up
from 5.70 in the fourth quarter of 2010. In our
Western markets it was a record 6.29, in the
East 5.43, and our top region had 7.38. The
opportunities, therefore, are immense. Even
if we get to eight products per retail bank
household, we still have room to grow. We
believe the average American household has
between 14 and 16 financial services products.
In Wholesale Banking, we’re building on
strong relationships with existing customers
and developing relationships with new
customers. Our loans in this important segment
grew 8percent in 2011. Our Commercial
Banking business has increased loans for
17straight months.
We also bought commercial portfolios
with favorable risk-reward characteristics
in 2011, including approximately $4billion
of U.S.-based commercial real estate loans,
and made a number of other acquisitions,
expanding our product lines. Weserve the
treasury management, investment banking,
and international needs of more than 28,000
relationships with middle-market and large
corporate businesses, governments, and
institutions worldwide.
We see huge growth opportunities in our
Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement segment.
Only one of about every 10 of our banking
households has an investment relationship
with us. More than 5million auent banking
households don’t have investment products
with us, but they have nearly $2trillion in
investable assets. Increasing cross-sell only
5percent with these customers could generate
$600million in annual revenue. Our more
than 15,000 financial advisors have their work
cut out for them. They’re eager to earn all our
customers’ business. If you’re a WellsFargo
customer with investable assets, we look
forward to talking toyousoon.
Growing revenue comes down to how well
our team can help our customers succeed, one
customer at a time. In Scottsdale, Ariz., for
example, our financial advisors and private
bankers worked together to help a customer
open a $1million line of credit to help his
business meet its short-term capital needs.
1Please see the “Financial Review – Capital Management” section
in this Report for more information.