Connected to our past, focused on our future. Wells Fargo & Company Annual Report 2001 1 Connected to our Past, Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) is a Focused on our Future diversified financial services company— From the 1850s to the 2000s, our values providing banking, insurance, investments, are the same. Sixteen of our team members tell you how. mortgage and consumer finance from more than 5,400 stores, the industry’s leading 17 To our Owners Chairman and CEO Dick Kovacevich internet site (wellsfargo.com) and other reports on 2001, and our progress in distribution channels across North America. market share growth and service quality. Our corporate headquarters is in San Francisco 24 Serving our Communities: but we’re decentralized so all Wells Fargo “The Good We May Render” “convenience points”—stores, ATMs, We contribute an average of $175,000 Phone BankSM centers, internet and direct a day to non-profits across the USA. mail —are headquarters for satisfying all our Our goal: help all our communities grow and prosper. customers’financial needs and helping them succeed financially. 29 The Businesses of Wells Fargo We’re one of North America’s largest, Assets: $308 billion most diversified financial services Rank in size among U.S. peers: 5th companies. Here’s how the pieces fit. Market value of stock: $74 billion 31 Board of Directors, Corporate Officers, Rank by value of stock among U.S. peers: 3rd Senior Business Officers Fortune 500 rank: 62 33 Financial Review Team members: 120,000 54 Financial Statements 97 Independent Auditors’ Report 100 Shareholder Information FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS In this report we make forward-looking statements about our company’s financial condition, results of operations, plans, objectives and future performance and business. When we use the words “estimate,”“expect,”“intend,”“plan,”“project,”“target,”“can,”“could,”“may,”“should,”“will,”“would”or similar expressions, we are making forward-looking statements.These statements involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors—many beyond our control—could cause results to differ from those in our forward- looking statements. These factors include: • changes in political, business and economic conditions, including changes in interest rates • competition from other financial services companies • fiscal and monetary policies • customers choosing not to use banks for transactions • legislation, including the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act • the integration of merged and acquired companies • future mergers and acquisitions. We discuss in more detail on pages 36-39 these and other factors that could cause results to differ from those in our forward-looking statements.There are other factors not described in this report that could cause results to differ. © 2002 Wells Fargo & Company. All rights reserved. Connected to our Past, Focused on our Future. On this 150th anniversary of Wells Fargo, we asked 16 team members—one for each decade—to reflect on a special person or event from that time that still influences our company today. These 16 team members represent the diversity of our businesses, from virtually every segment of the financial services industry. They represent the diversity of our geography across North America. They represent the cultural diversity of America itself. Most amazing, they represent a company still thriving and growing under its founding name, still doing what it was created to do,still identified with its founders’vision,still reinventing itself. Very few companies are still as connected to their past and focused on the future as Wells Fargo is today. 1848 U.S. population: 23 million 1855 California Gold Rush, Gold discovered Survived financial panic California, Minnesota, in California Oregon statehood 1850s 1852 Wells Fargo founded, $300,000 capital 1850s Gilles Marchand, Consumer Lending, Nevada: “One of my favorite Wells Fargo stories is about a young agent in the California Gold Rush named John Q. Jackson. He wrote his parents back in Virginia in October 1852 that he had ‘no trouble except owing to the care of treasure placed in this office. Were it not for this feeling of responsibility I would be light-hearted and happy as a bird.’ I feel that same responsibility today!” Pony express (10 mph), 1863 1866 peak of stagecoaching (5 mph), Wells Fargo delivers Wells Fargo operates Civil War, Reconstruction, Civil War relief funds 2,500 stagecoaches Comstock silver (Nevada), Nevada, Nebraska statehood 1860s 1862 1869 Wells Fargo ships European Transcontinental railroad completed grape vines to California (60 mph) circa 1867 2 CONNECTED TO OUR PAST “We still deliver timely and important information to our customers every single day.” 1860s Tim Knowlton, Internet Services Group, California: “It’s amazing to me that in the 1860s we carried the news that Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States to the American West by the fastest means of communication of its day—the Wells Fargo pony express. Maynard Dixon captured that moment in his painting—Lincoln Elected! We still deliver timely and important information to our customers every single day—a lot faster than that horse but with the same spirit.” Depression, 1871 1878 telephone & phonograph Fargo, North Dakota named Wells Fargo publishes invented, U.S. Centennial, for William G. Fargo San Francisco’s first Chinese Colorado silver rush, business directory Colorado statehood 1870s 1872 The North Western National Bank of Minneapolis founded by local businessmen and William G. Fargo FOCUSED ON OUR FUTURE 3 “George Monroe was the epitome of a talented and skilled team leader, the same type of person we try to hire today.” 1870s Sanford Livingston, Commercial Banking, California: “In the 1870s, we had an African-American stagecoach driver by the name of George Monroe. He took President Grant on the ride of his life into Yosemite Valley. Grant later wrote that Monroe ‘drove six horses as one’and was ‘the finest reinsman I ever saw.’ I’ve always thought Monroe was the epitome of a talented and skilled team leader, the same type of person we try to hire today.” Iron ore,“King Wheat,” 1888 Minneapolis “flour capital of the Wells Fargo “Ocean to Ocean”express world,” Rockefeller’s Standard Oil; service; The North Western Bank: North Dakota, South Dakota, “ordinary routine work must be dropped Montana,Washington statehood 1880s instantly when a customer is waiting” 1882 Wells Fargo handbook: “Proper respect must be shown to all—let them be men, women, children, rich or poor, white or black” 4 CONNECTED TO OUR PAST 1880s 1890s Kathy Petersen, Community Banking, Idaho: “One of our Magdalen Mui, Community Banking, California: “Cassie Hill predecessors—the old North Western Bank in Minneapolis—had is one of my role models. Talk about heroes! Her husband dies a cashier named James B. Forgan who made every team member suddenly and she becomes the Wells Fargo agent in a tough, sign a ‘List of Duties’on September10, 1888. His ‘General Rule railroad town for 23 years. And she’s also raising five kids as a No.1’read: ‘The ordinary routine work of the office must be single mom! She lived to be 102 years old. We named one of dropped instantly when a customer is waiting for anything our operations centers after her. She still inspires us today.“ and his business attended to first.’ Here we are 114 years later and it’s still our No.1 operating rule for customer service.” Depression, 1890 1897 Spanish-American War, Wells Fargo’s John Valentine, Wells Fargo adapts refrigerator automobiles, motion from messenger to president railroad cars for express service pictures,Wyoming, Idaho and Utah statehood State Loan Company (Wells Fargo 1890s Financial) founded, Des Moines, Iowa 1895 circa 1899 Wells Fargo postal service ends FOCUSED ON OUR FUTURE 5 “We really care. That’s how you build solid relationships.” 1900s Melissa Stearns, Community Banking, South Dakota: “I think one of the important keys to our success over the years is how our team members are involved in their communities. We really care. That’s how you build solid relationships. One of my favorite examples from a hundred years ago is Miss Julia Jones. She was a Wells Fargo agent in a rural mountain town. She also was postmistress, a small business owner and a schoolteacher. I’m active in my community of Hot Springs, South Dakota. I live and work alongside my customers and their children, volunteering in our 4-H Clubs and our county fair. That’s what community banking is all about.” U.S. population: 75 million, 1900 1908 Wright brothers, Railroad magnate Architect Louis Sullivan designs Ford Motor Company, Edward Harriman gains 1907 panic, “Gateway to the West”bank, control of Wells Fargo J.P.Morgan’s U.S. Steel Owatonna, Minnesota 1900s 1905 1906 California banker San Francisco earthquake and fire, Isaias Hellman becomes Wells Fargo telegram: “Building Destroyed. Wells Fargo president Vault intact. Credit unaffected.” Iowa Security Co. (Wells Fargo Home 6 CONNECTED TO OUR PAST Mortgage) founded (Waterloo, Iowa) 1910s K.C. Kidder, Corporate Team, Minnesota: “Growing up in the Midwest, you learn how important the weather is. It’s always been that way. I get a kick out of reading about how we shared this information with our customers and shareholders for many years. In our Bank Review in May 1911, for instance, there was ‘good news’: ‘It is very gratifying to be able to record the fact that there has been precipitation of abundant moisture in the two Dakotas and Minnesota to put the ground in excellent condition for seeding.’ It sounds quaint, but it was very important to know. It still is.” WWI, Federal Reserve, 1913 1918 Progressive era, Prohibition, Wells Fargo and The North Western 10,000 Wells Fargo express offices New Mexico, National Bank join Federal Reserve “consolidated”by government as Arizona statehood wartime measure; one Wells Fargo 1910s banking office remains 1915 Wells Fargo creates employee pension/benefits plan; starts express service to Chicago, NY; 4-day coast-to-coast express service circa 1888-1918 FOCUSED ON OUR FUTURE 7 “One of our first ads back in the ’20s read,‘Would We Buy It Ourselves?—Is the First and Final Test of Every Security We Sell or Recommend.’ Integrity mattered more than anything else back then.