Wells Fargo is extending an investment-banking hiring campaign that executives say is translating into more corporate advisory work and a rapid rise in league-table standings. The effort gained momentum after regulators lifted a punitive cap on the bank’s assets in June 2025, a restriction imposed for about seven years after the lender’s fake-accounts scandal.
In an interview, Fernando Rivas, chief executive of corporate and investment banking at Wells Fargo, said the bank plans to keep adding senior talent after several years of bringing in “dozens” of managing directors annually. He said current deal pipelines are “meaningfully greater” than in recent years, reflecting both market-share gains and a friendlier environment for transactions.
Rivas pointed to strong equity prices, tight credit spreads and a more accommodative backdrop from the Federal Reserve as factors supporting confidence in boardrooms and among investors. He also cited a more pro-business political climate as helping unlock activity that had been deferred during more uncertain periods for financing and valuations.
Senior Hires Expand Coverage And Products
The build-out targets sectors and products that can win mandates from large companies and private-equity sponsors. Charlie Scharf, Wells Fargo’s CEO, has said the bank has recruited more than 125 managing directors since 2019 across corporate and investment banking, aiming to convert long-standing commercial relationships into steadier capital-markets and advisory fees.
Wells Fargo has refreshed leadership across core specialties, including new heads of M&A and sponsors, plus senior hires covering industries such as industrials, technology, media and telecommunications, and healthcare. It has added leadership in leveraged finance and equity capital markets as well, seeking a broader platform that pairs advice with financing.
Analysts say the end of the asset cap strengthens the bank’s ability to compete for large, financing-heavy assignments. With a balance sheet above $1 trillion in assets, Wells Fargo can offer lending capacity and distribution that smaller rivals often cannot, particularly in U.S. mega-deals.
Big Mandates Power A League-Table Jump
Preliminary Dealogic data show Wells Fargo rising to eighth place globally by M&A volume this year, up from 17th in 2024—the biggest jump among major banks. It is also the lender’s first appearance in the global top 10 since Dealogic began compiling the dataset in 1995.
The bank has taken roles on some of the year’s largest announced transactions. Wells Fargo was among the advisers and financiers on Netflix’s roughly $72 billion bid for Warner Bros Discovery assets including film and television studios and a streaming business; LSEG estimates suggest about $37 million in advisory fees could be earned from that deal.
It also advised railroad operator Union Pacific on its planned $85 billion acquisition of Norfolk Southern, with LSEG data indicating Wells Fargo is positioned to earn about $52.5 million when the deal closes. Analysts say mandates of that scale help reposition a franchise that was not previously viewed as a top-tier M&A player.
Climbing In Volume, Still Chasing Fee Share
Despite progress, Wells Fargo is still playing catch-up in revenue terms. By investment-banking revenue, it ranks eighth globally and sixth in the U.S., but it remains 20th by M&A revenue, signaling that the fee pool has not yet matched its improvement in volumes.
Scharf has said the bank is aiming to become a top five investment bank over time, a target analysts describe as difficult in the medium term given entrenched competitors and the scale of the biggest franchises. Still, they note that the combination of expanded senior coverage, improved financing capacity and higher-profile mandates marks measurable progress.
The competitive benchmark remains high, with JPMorgan consistently leading global investment-banking tables and Goldman Sachs a dominant name in M&A. Scharf has recruited several senior executives from JPMorgan, where he previously worked under Jamie Dimon, and investors are watching whether that team can translate expanded coverage into durable share gains.
Wells Fargo’s broader turnaround has also supported the push. The bank’s shares are up nearly 32% this year, slightly ahead of the S&P 500 bank index gain of about 29%, a sign of improved market confidence as it pushes deeper into advisory and capital markets.
