• Wells Fargo names Saul Van Beurden to scale AI across the bank
• Consumer lending and banking businesses merged under co-CEO Kleber Santos
• Bank accelerates adoption of generative and agentic AI tools from Google Cloud
• More than 90,000 employees have been trained on AI this year
• Leadership says AI will transform operating models and empower staff
• Wells Fargo sees AI as a once in a generation productivity opportunity

Wells Fargo has placed its consumer and small business banking chief, Saul Van Beurden, in charge of scaling artificial intelligence across the company as the bank intensifies its push into generative and agentic technologies. 

The decision, announced on Thursday, represents one of the most significant internal shifts to date as the lender restructures leadership roles to accelerate technology-driven transformation.

As part of the changes, Kleber Santos, the bank’s chief executive for consumer lending, will assume a joint role as co-CEO of consumer lending and banking. 

The consolidation formally unites both businesses, freeing Van Beurden to focus more fully on the bank’s AI strategy.

Wells Fargo chief executive Charlie Scharf said the shift reflects the bank’s long-term belief in the ability of AI to rewrite competitive dynamics across industries. 

He compared the moment to earlier waves of automation driven by robotic process automation and machine learning, both of which the bank adopted extensively.

“Generative and agentic AI will reshape competitive dynamics across every industry, and we are embracing these tools as we have embraced robotic process automation and machine learning for years,” Scharf said in a statement.

The bank’s investments are already visible. In August, Wells gave thousands of employees across branches, investment banking, customer relations and corporate functions access to AI tools built on Google Cloud. 

These systems help staff sift through large volumes of documentation, generate insights and accelerate research that previously took hours.

Scharf said Wells Fargo has trained roughly 90,000 employees on AI so far this year and is steadily expanding access as new use cases emerge. 

Van Beurden echoed that sentiment in recent remarks, stressing that both staff and customers expect cutting-edge tools in daily workflows.

“Our employees and customers have powerful models in their hands. They expect the same at work,” he told Forbes. “GenAI helps remove simple repetitive tasks, builds workflows and frees people to do higher-value work. We are scratching the surface.”

He emphasized that the bank’s approach is rooted in enhancing human performance rather than replacing it. AI, he said, should elevate decision-making and efficiency, not remove people from critical processes.

In his new role, Van Beurden will support leaders across Wells Fargo’s business lines as they redesign their operating models with AI at the core. Scharf said success will depend on individual business heads fully embracing new tools and rethinking traditional processes.

“Success will be driven by business heads embracing these new technologies and rethinking their own operating models using generative and agentic AI solutions,” Scharf said.

He added that advances in AI offer the bank what he described as “a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform how we work,” with the potential to benefit employees, customers and the wider communities the bank serves.

Van Beurden joined Wells Fargo in 2019 after serving as chief information officer for consumer and community banking at JPMorgan Chase. 

The bank promoted him in 2023 from head of technology to CEO of consumer and small business banking, a role that positioned him at the center of the bank’s digital modernization strategy. 

His expanded remit underscores the bank’s view that AI adoption is now a critical strategic priority.

A Wells Fargo spokesperson declined to comment further on the leadership changes or the bank’s broader AI program.