Banking giant Wells Fargo said it expects more job cuts to its workforce and higher severance expenses in the current fourth quarter while using artificial intelligence to change the way its business works.
"We have gone through the budgeting process, and even pre-artificial intelligence, we do expect to have less people as we go into next year," CEO Charlie Scharf said.
"We'll likely have more severance in the fourth quarter."
Scharf said that AI would be extremely significant to the bank's future, both in terms of efficiencies it can drive "what it is going to potentially do to headcount".
He clarified that AI would not entirely replace humans but could change how work is carried out as they reduce their workforce.
The AI rollout will happen slowly over the next year, and Scharf said it would be a “positive reality” for the bank.
When Scharf first joined Wells Fargo in 2019, the bank had 275,000 employees.
As of 30 September 2025, it had a little over 210,000 employees.
At the Goldman conference, Sharf said the bank is not as efficient as it would be with AI.
"Gen AI tools within our engineering workforce were 30% to 35% more efficient in terms of writing code today,” he said.
“We've not reduced the number of people we have coding today, but we're getting a lot more done and that's real efficiency.”
