Speaking at the Goldman Sachs U.S. Financial Services Conference last week, Wells Fargo & Co. President and Chief Executive Officer John Stumpf told attendees that although the bank considers itself to be the leader in auto finance, that is not the ultimate goal.
“I don’t have a chart where it says Wells Fargo must be No. 1 in this business,“ Stumpf said. “What we must do is do a good job and make sure that we have proper risk and return.”
Wells Fargo staked its claim on the value of its annual fundings, excluding leases, as of Sept. 30, according to its conference presentation, though a Dec. 1 report from Experian Automotive declared Ally Financial Inc. the leader in retail auto lending, based on the number of retail loans financed in the third quarter.
*An earlier version of this story stated that Wells Fargo staked its claim on its auto finance portfolio, but has been corrected to annual fundings.
