Workers in the bank's conduct management intake group joined colleagues at 23 Wells Fargo branches in approving a union.

The megabank's scale hasn't made it immune from the deposit wars that have crimped bank profits. But the "stabilization" that Wells Fargo flagged is a positive sign as other banks start reporting earnings.

Wall Street banks are expected to capitalize on ultra-low credit spreads and strong demand from investors after they report quarterly results.

The penalty by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is a major setback for the San Francisco bank, which was freed from a separate anti-money-laundering order in 2021. Its stock price fell sharply after the news broke.

The San Francisco bank's interest expenses continue to rise as depositors switch to higher-yielding options. At the same time, soft loan demand from business customers is putting a lid on how much interest Wells is collecting from borrowers.

Workers are eligible for the one-time cash grants if they earned a salary of less than $75,000 last year, and their total cash compensation was less than $85,000. The payments come amid a unionization push at the San Francisco-based megabank.

The San Francisco-based bank warned for months that charge-offs were likely to start rising as some office-related loans went bad. It began to happen in the fourth quarter, which could be an omen for regional banks that have larger concentrations in the office sector.

Across the industry, the pace of branch shutdowns slowed this year. Still, large financial institutions continued to trim their physical footprints, with two super-regional banks taking the most aggressive actions.

JPMorgan Chase now tops Wells Fargo in third-party servicing, origination volume and on-balance-sheet home loans, according to company filings.