Strategic planning

Warren Buffett isn't known to ask much of companies in which he buys stock. Then last year, as Wells Fargo's top investor, he publicly advised the board not to hire a leader from Wall Street — and it did. What ensued shows what can happen when a company rejects the legendary investor's advice.

CEO Charlie Scharf disappointed investors by failing to provide either a detailed road map for long-term expense reductions or say when he might release such a plan.

The Minneapolis company says the majority of branches earmarked for closing have already been shuttered for months due to the pandemic. Some of the savings will be plowed back into digital expansion.

CEO Michael Corbat and CFO Mark Mason dodged questions from analysts about how much time and money Citigroup expects to spend to address recent enforcement actions.

Goldman Sachs Group shuffled its business lines and announced a raft of management changes, carving out new divisions aligned with a strategy pivot unveiled earlier this year.

Several companies said this week they’re slashing expenses as the economy limps along. Others would prefer to keep investing in new technologies and hold off on moves like branch closings to better gauge which changes in consumer behavior will stick.

“What COVID has done for us is it has showed us where to prioritize investments,” William Demchak said at an industry conference in discussing the Pittsburgh company's plans to speed up the shift to digital banking.

The reductions will affect less than 1% of Citi's global workforce, and with recent hiring the overall headcount probably won’t decline, the company said.

When the coronavirus pandemic forced teachers and students to move classroom learning online this year, school districts and educators suddenly faced a raft of challenges around handling new expenses for tools needed for cyber education.

The industry's return on average assets has already dropped substantially and there are predictions that could get even worse. Many institutions will have to deal with elevated provisions for loan losses and expense management to survive.