The buzz is building inside Wells Fargo & Co.: The bank — once the envy of the industry — could finally be allowed to grow again.

Seven years into a US cap on assets, executives are awaiting a verdict on whether they’ve done enough to appease the Federal Reserve to get the restriction lifted.

When the Fed imposed the consent order, the sanction was so arcane and unprecedented that more analysts raised their ratings than lowered them in the months that followed. Executives wrongly predicted they could finish the work required for lifting it within a year or so.

It has proved incredibly tenacious and costly. The bank not only spent heavily to make fixes, it missed out on years of additional revenue it would have reaped had its balance sheet grown in line with major peers, especially once inflation hit. Based on the bank’s profit margins, those missed profits amount to roughly $36 billion.

bloomberg.com - Wells fargo executives plot life after billion punishment