By Nupur Anand
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said on Wednesday that the asset cap imposed on the bank by regulators is curtailing its ability to take in more corporate deposits and expand its trading business.
Corporate lending and trading would be growth areas for the lender if the asset cap is lifted, Scharf told investors.
The $1.95 trillion asset cap was imposed on the San Francisco-based bank after a fake accounts scandal prompted billions of dollars in fines and regulatory punishments called consent orders.
Scharf said the company was making progress on fixing its problems, but regulators would decide when the asset cap would be lifted.
“We have to close these orders, we have to build the controls and make them part of the company,” Scharf said. “So we’re not declaring victory.”
(Reporting by Nupur Anand in New York and Saeed Azhar, editing by Lananh Nguyen and Chizu Nomiyama)