During Wells Fargo’s first earnings call since its $2 trillion asset cap was lifted, bank officials provided more details Tuesday about how they will grow and also improve company culture.

“When the asset cap was lifted, it’s not like this light switch is going to go off and all of a sudden things are going to dramatically change,” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said while fielding analyst questions following the second-quarter earnings call. “We’re very carefully thinking through how we use the additional capacity to help grow the company.

“We expect that to happen over time.”

In June, the Federal Reserve removed Wells Fargo’s $1.95 trillion asset cap punishment over its 2016 fake sales scandal.

From 2002 to 2016, hundreds of thousands of Wells Fargo’s Community Bank employees opened millions of unauthorized or fraudulent accounts and other financial products to meet excessive sales goals. The asset cap was Wells Fargo’s harshest punishment, limiting the bank’s growth.

Removal of the asset cap during the second quarter was a “pivotal milestone” in Wells Fargo’s transformation, Scharf said during the earnings call. Since 2019, some 13 consent orders, including seven this year, have been terminated.

“It certainly does open options for us to grow and increase returns beyond what we’ve seen in the past,” Scharf said. “With so much of this work completed, we can allocate our time differently and spend more time focusing on growth and the future.”

Wells Fargo is based in San Francisco and has 215,000 employees. Its largest employee base is in Charlotte, with about 27,000 workers.

While shareholders benefited from increased stock buybacks, “we would have preferred to allocate more capital to grow our businesses and the overall balance sheet,” Scharf said. “We now have the flexibility to proactively grow deposits and to allocate capital to grow loans and our corporate investment bank.”

How Wells Fargo is focused on growth

While under the asset cap, Wells Fargo turned away corporate client deposits, and was unable to aggressively grow consumer deposits or loans, bank officials said.

“Since I arrived, we’ve had to make difficult choices where to allocate our balance sheet, given our inability to increase total assets,” Scharf said. “We expect to be more aggressive in our pursuit of consumer and corporate deposits, and we will selectively look to grow loans, though we will be cautious during periods of economic uncertainty.”

Wells Fargo’s plans to invest in:

—Increasing deposits through more aggressive marketing for consumer deposits and competing for corporate deposits, which was limited under the asset cap.

“We’re focused on primary check account growth. You’re going to see more aggressive marketing. You’re going to see more merchandising in our branches,” Scharf said. “You’re going to see more local advertising as well as national advertising, as well as just expansion of footprint in areas where we think we have room to grow.”

—Investing in more bankers to serve high-net-worth clients, leading to increased net asset flows into the wealth and investment management sectors. “We are investing in more bankers to serve these clients, and have increased branch-based financial advisers by over 10% from a year ago,” Scharf said.

—Selectively growing loans but cautiously during periods of economic uncertainty, Scharf said. Wells Fargo also signed a multi-year agreement with Volkswagen and Audi in the U.S. “Our auto portfolio grew for the first time in over three years,” Scharf said.

—Technology and new products, such as credit cards and mobile app and online enhancements.

Wells Fargo’s workplace

Wells Fargo also has changed and simplified its business mix, transformed the management team and how the company is run, Scharf said.

He recognized the company’s employees’ contributions to the removal of the asset cap. “Though we have tremendous opportunities,” Scharf said, “this has been a demanding place to work.”

Scharf laid out some ways Wells Fargo has sought to improve company culture, including providing better benefits, raising pay and investing in employee-development programs.

Workers who make less than $85,000 annually have been given year-end bonuses for the past two years, Scharf said.

All employees also were given an equity award so they could own part of Wells Fargo, he said.

Wells Fargo focus on efficiency

Despite the asset cap removal, the related consent order related to remains in place, Scharf said.

“Until that order is lifted, we’ve got to be very, very careful about just changing anything because of the plans that we put in place,” Scharf said.

Wells Fargo will continue to balance increasing investments with keeping expenses in check to drive not just growth, but higher returns, Scharf said. This includes using technology such as artificial intelligence while reducing headcount.

Scharf said reduction in employees is done mostly through attrition. But it also is a result of AI and other tech rolling out through the company at branches, offices and call centers, Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer Mike Santomassimo said.

“We have now reduced headcount for 20 consecutive quarters, resulting in a 23% decline from five years ago,” Scharf said.

Wells Fargo also has or will be closing at least eight North Carolina bank branches, including two in the Charlotte region, The Charlotte Observer recently reported.

Employees at sites in Dallas and Concord will be transferred to nearby branches. Wells Fargo also confirmed it is cutting 194 jobs in Winston-Salem as it exits the chief operating office global operations there, as well as other business units.

Still, Scharf said Tuesday that Wells Fargo has increased the number of hires in corporate investment, commercial and business banking, as well as for its financial advisers.

“We’ve been able to do those things because we’re driving efficiency elsewhere in the company, and those things will drive increased revenue over time,” Scharf said.

Wells Fargo reported $5.5 billion in net income, up nearly 12% from the same time last year, driven by investment advisory fees, deposit fees, card fees and trading activities. Average deposits increased 4% compared to a year ago.

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