How is AI changing Wells Fargo's workforce?
Wells Fargo is shrinking while it spreads AI. Headcount was approximately 226,000 active employees at the end of 2023 and 205,000 at the end of 2025, and Charlie Scharf said in July 2026 it had fallen for 24 consecutive quarters to 197,000, down 79,000 in six years; on the October 13, 2026 call headcount was down 8% year on year and 30% from the 2020 peak. Scharf had already separated past cuts from what AI will do: in August 2026 he said automating roles 'is going to result in tens of thousands of fewer positions'. On the build side, the bank said in November 2025 it had trained more than 90,000 employees and put AI tools on more than 180,000 desktops, and by October 2026 American Banker reported AI tools reaching nearly 200,000 employees. The 2025 10-K reports about $200 million spent on employee learning and development in 2025, and the 2026 proxy credits executives with 'improving adoption and literacy through training' and 'expanding leadership training'. More than 4,000 employees have gone through the Stanford HAI program. Faraz Shafiq, head of AI products, said in October 2026 that 'structured learning, training, development is super key' to getting its 197,000 employees to use AI. The bank has not said how many roles AI has already removed.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]
Data as of Oct 31, 2026 · Wells Fargo profile updated Oct 21, 2026 · 32 sources cited on this page · 141 banks profiled on this site · Markdown
How has Wells Fargo's headcount changed as it adopted AI?
Year-end figures are 'active employees' from the 10-K; quarterly figures are from earnings calls. The decline began before generative AI; the bank attributes it to efficiency initiatives.
| As of | Headcount | What was said | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | About 275,000 | Scharf's baseline when he describes the decline | Reuters; Banking Dive[12][13] |
| December 31, 2023 | Approximately 226,000 active employees, about 79% in the U.S. | 2023 10-K human capital section | SEC EDGAR[1] |
| November 5, 2025 | A little over 210,000 | 'It's likely we'll have less headcount as we look forward', preferably through attrition | Reuters[12] |
| December 31, 2025 | Approximately 205,000 active employees, about 76% in the U.S. | 2025 10-K human capital section | SEC EDGAR[2] |
| Q1 2026 | Down 4,199 in the quarter | 23rd consecutive quarterly reduction while 'increasing our investments in areas like technology, including AI' | Q1 2026 call[14][15] |
| Q2 2026 | 197,000 | 24 consecutive quarterly declines; down 79,000 from six years earlier and 15,000 from a year earlier; savings fund bankers, advisers and traders | Q2 2026 call[3] |
| Q3 2026 | Down 2% in the quarter and 8% year on year | 30% below the second-quarter 2020 peak; 'has decreased every quarter for the past 6 years' | Q3 2026 call[4] |
What have Wells Fargo's leaders said about AI and jobs?
| Date | Who | What was said |
|---|---|---|
| November 20, 2025 | Charlie Scharf | The bank had trained over 90,000 employees and deployed AI tools to over 180,000 desktops in the past year[6][7] |
| December 9, 2025 | Charlie Scharf | AI has made engineers 30% to 35% more efficient; more job cuts and higher severance expected going into 2026[16][17] |
| March 15, 2026 | Saul Van Beurden, head of AI | The bank must teach employees new skills and they must choose to learn them; it leans on AI literacy programs and demos to build 'grassroots enthusiasm'[18] |
| May 27, 2026 | Charlie Scharf | AI is both a threat and a benefit to jobs; names auditing, testing, legal, contracts, patent filings, pitchbooks and credit memos as areas for AI[13] |
| August 4, 2026 | Charlie Scharf | 'When we think about the ability to automate roles... it's going to result in tens of thousands of fewer positions'[5] |
| October 13, 2026 | Charlie Scharf | Coding has gone from assisting programmers to 'autonomous agents when appropriate'; AI also speeds marketing campaigns, underwriting responses and complaint handling[4] |
| October 20, 2026 | Faraz Shafiq | The goal is for employees to 'become superhuman' with AI; 'Having structured learning, training, development is super key'; adoption takes longer at Wells Fargo's size[11] |
How does Wells Fargo train and hire for AI?
Training is reported in aggregates. The 2025 10-K says the bank invested approximately $200 million in learning and development in 2025, covering functional, risk and compliance, leadership and early-talent programs. The 2026 proxy credits the operating committee with building generative AI platforms 'while improving adoption and literacy through training' and with 'expanding leadership training'; the 2025 proxy credits the head of technology with a framework for 'infrastructure, training, and governance' for AI.[2][9][19]
External programs: more than 4,000 employees have taken part in the Stanford HAI corporate affiliate program, which the bank joined as a founding member in 2023.[10][20]
Hiring is concentrated at the top of the AI organization: Faraz Shafiq from Amazon Web Services (named January 2026) as head of AI products and solutions, Andre Mansour from Google (May 2026) as head of AI for wealth, and Cayetano Gea-Carrasco (October 2026) as head of AI and data for consumer banking and lending. Shafiq said the bank's AI results make it easier to hire other leaders. The 2025 10-K warns that AI could 'require additional training of employees and lead to increased competition for candidates with advanced technological skills'.[21][22][23][11][24]
What does the Wells Fargo profile record on this topic?
The rows below are the entries of the Wells Fargo AI strategy profile that bear on this page, as of Oct 21, 2026; the profile holds the full record of 44 dated moves, 17 use cases and 60 sources.
| Use case | What the record shows | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agentspace agents for employees | Agents to summarise complex FX inquiries and navigate compliance policies; research tools for all staff. | Rolling out | [25][26] |
| AI coding assistants | 30–35% efficiency gain for engineers. | In production | [16] |
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | More than 30,000 employees since June 2025; 92% active usage among enabled staff, used for content, summaries and research. | In production | [27] |
| Date | Move | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 13, 2026 | Q3 2026 call: AI agents in code, marketing, cyber, underwriting | Scharf cites 'significant management time and resources' on AI and says the Wealth tool is 'the first of several capabilities' in a broader AI strategy; the earnings release reports headcount down 8% year on year. | [28][29] |
| Jul 14, 2026 | Q2 2026 call: Advisor Gateway with generative AI; headcount 197,000 | More than $1 billion spent modernising the wealth platform; headcount down 79,000 in six years; CFO sees more automation ahead. | [3] |
| May 27, 2026 | Scharf at Bernstein: AI is both a threat and a benefit to jobs | Names auditing, testing, legal, contracts, patent filings, pitchbooks and credit memos as areas for AI; headcount about 205,000, down from 275,000; $15 billion cut and $9 billion reinvested. | [13] |
| May 27, 2026 | Andre Mansour hired as head of AI for wealth | Joins from Google, where he led AI work for capital markets and asset management clients; reports to Evelyn Varner. | [22] |
| Apr 14, 2026 | Q1 2026 call: more spending on AI, 23rd quarter of headcount cuts | Scharf says investment in technology including AI is rising; headcount fell by 4,199 in the quarter. | [14][15] |
| Jan 26, 2026 | AWS executive hired to expand AI use | Faraz Shafiq to study company-wide needs for generative and agentic AI and manage those products. | [30] |
| Dec 9, 2025 | AI makes engineers 30–35% more efficient | Scharf at the Goldman Sachs conference; more job cuts and higher severance expected. | [16][17] |
| Nov 5, 2025 | Scharf: headcount will keep falling | From 275,000 in 2019 to a little over 210,000; further declines 'through attrition as possible'. | [12] |
| Nov 3, 2025 | Kerrins at Money20/20: developer platform plus Google employee tools | Kerrins says the bank runs a developer platform and a Google partnership for employee capability; Deep Research and NotebookLM reached about 2,000 employees first. She flags agent-to-agent banking and customer 'AI buddies' as next. | [31] |
| Oct 14, 2025 | Q3 2025 call: efficiency through automation and AI | Scharf points to headcount, third-party spend and real estate; the focus is on automating processes and leveraging AI. | [32] |
| Aug 5, 2025 | Agentic AI to all 215,000 employees | Google Cloud Agentspace, Gemini Deep Research and NotebookLM; Kerrins: 'a big deal for us'. | [25] |
| Jun 1, 2025 | Microsoft 365 Copilot rolled out to employees | More than 30,000 users and a 92% active usage rate among enabled employees by November 2025, per CIO for Enterprise Functions Ken Meyer. | [27] |
How many employees does Wells Fargo have?
Approximately 205,000 active employees at December 31, 2025, about 76% in the U.S., per the 2025 10-K. Scharf said headcount was 197,000 in the second quarter of 2026, after 24 straight quarterly declines, and the bank reported a further 2% fall in the third quarter. That compares with about 226,000 at the end of 2023 and about 275,000 in 2019.
Is Wells Fargo cutting jobs because of AI?
The cuts to date are attributed to efficiency initiatives that began before generative AI, but Scharf has said AI will add to them: in August 2026 he said automating roles 'is going to result in tens of thousands of fewer positions', and in December 2025 he said more cuts and higher severance were coming. The bank has not said how many roles AI has removed so far or set a target.
How does Wells Fargo train employees on AI?
It reported about $200 million of learning and development spending in 2025, AI training for more than 90,000 employees by November 2025, AI literacy programs and demos described by head of AI Saul Van Beurden in March 2026, leadership AI training noted in the 2026 proxy, and more than 4,000 employees through the Stanford HAI program. It has not published AI-specific training hours or completion rates.
How many Wells Fargo employees use AI tools?
Nearly 200,000, according to American Banker's October 2026 profile of head of technology Bridget Engle. In November 2025 the bank said it had deployed AI tools to more than 180,000 desktops; Google Agentspace, Gemini Deep Research and NotebookLM were announced for all employees in August 2025, and more than 30,000 use Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Is Wells Fargo hiring for AI?
Yes. Beyond senior hires from Amazon Web Services, Google and elsewhere, BankingNewsAI's weekly read of Wells Fargo's careers site on October 27, 2026 listed principal and lead AI engineering roles in Charlotte, Boston, London, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, plus AI workflow design, agentic product and AI technology-risk roles; the current list is on the Wells Fargo profile. Postings change weekly, so they are not cited as sources.
- Wells Fargo & Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2023 (human capital)
- Wells Fargo & Company Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025
- Wells Fargo (WFC) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
- Wells Fargo (WFC) Q3 2026 earnings call transcript
- Wells Fargo's CEO Says AI Will Erase Tens of Thousands of Jobs
- Wells Fargo Names Saul Van Beurden to Lead Artificial Intelligence
- Wells Fargo Names Saul Van Beurden to Lead Artificial Intelligence; Kleber Santos to Expand Responsibilities and Serve as Co-CEO of Consumer Banking and Lending with Van Beurden
- The Most Powerful Women in Banking, #11, Bridget Engle, Wells Fargo
- Wells Fargo & Company 2026 Proxy Statement (DEF 14A)
- How Wells Fargo builds responsible artificial intelligence
- 4 keys to Wells Fargo's strategy to transform the bank with AI
- Wells Fargo CEO expects bank's workforce to shrink further
- Wells Fargo CEO: AI's effect on employment is 'complicated'
- Wells Fargo (WFC) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript
- AI is starting to replace humans in operations, analyst jobs
- Wells Fargo CEO Sees AI Impacting Companies' Workforce Decisions
- Wells Fargo expects more job cuts, will roll out AI gradually in 2026
- Wells Fargo's head of AI shares his playbook for staying in demand as banks weigh what the tech means for head count
- Wells Fargo & Company 2025 Proxy Statement (DEF 14A)
- Wells Fargo Joins Stanford HAI Corporate Affiliate Program
- Wells Fargo Names Faraz Shafiq as Head of AI Products and Solutions
- People Moves: Wells Fargo Hires Former Google AI Finance Leader
- Wells Fargo Deepens AI and Data Leadership for Consumer Banking and Lending
- Wells Fargo & Company 2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K, Exhibit 13): risk factors
- Wells Fargo plans to unleash Google's agentic AI bank-wide
- Wells Fargo hires AWS exec to lead AI strategy
- From legacy to Frontier: How 100-year brands are leading AI innovation
- Wells Fargo Enhances Banking Capabilities Using AI and Digital Assets
- Wells Fargo Reports Third Quarter 2026 Net Income of $6.0 billion, or $1.87 per Diluted Share
- Wells Fargo Taps Amazon Web Services Executive to Expand AI Use
- How Wells Fargo is building agentic AI into its workflows
- Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) Q3 2025 Earnings Call Highlights
When Wells Fargo moves on AI, you'll read it here first.
when one of the banks we cover moves on AI, it is in the next morning's brief · six sourced stories · 7 am PT · free
plus every regulation, bank and agent page update, the morning after · leave any morning