Wells Fargo & Co. today confirmed that its asset cap has been lifted by the Federal Reserve. The asset cap had been put into place under its 2018 consent order to address the bank’s poor governance and risk management practices. The board of governors of the Federal Reserve has determined that Wells Fargo has met all conditions required to remove the limits on growth in total assets imposed in the 2018 consent order.

Conditions to lift the restriction outlined in the order included wide-ranging requirements to support board effectiveness and improvements in the company’s firmwide compliance and operational risk programs. It also included a requirement for a third-party independent review of the work completed by the company. The third-party review was in addition to reviews the Federal Reserve undertook directly.

“The Federal Reserve’s decision to lift the asset cap marks a pivotal milestone in our journey to transform Wells Fargo. We are a different and far stronger company today because of the work we’ve done,” Wells Fargo CEO Charlie Scharf said in a press release. “In addition, we have changed and simplified our business mix, and we have transformed the management team and how we run the company. We have been methodically investing in the company’s future while improving our financial results and profile. We are excited to continue to move forward with plans to further increase returns and growth in a deliberate manner supported by the processes and cultural changes we have made.”

Wells Fargo also announced full-time employees will receive an award of $2,000, most in the form of restricted stock grants.

“This is a huge accomplishment for the 215,000 employees of Wells Fargo, who all contributed to this milestone – whether they worked directly on the risk and control efforts, supported the work indirectly by helping us embed a different way of working into our culture, or continued to serve our customers and clients day in and day out through difficult conditions … A $2,000 award means different things for different people, but we wanted everyone – including tellers, contact center representatives, administrative assistants, operations staff, bankers, financial advisors, and corporate staff – to have an opportunity to own a part of Wells Fargo and hopefully benefit from our future success,” Scharf said.

Steven D. Black, chair of Wells Fargo’s board of directors, added: “I want to thank our board of directors for their work in achieving today’s outcome, including the substantial changes we have made to board composition and oversight. On behalf of the entire board, I also want to thank the management team, and in particular, Charlie for his inspired leadership. Since he arrived in late 2019, Charlie has assembled a top-notch management team, overseen the details and the big picture of a major transformation effort, and made meaningful changes to improve returns through a global pandemic, periods of economic volatility and significant regulatory headwinds. He has been instrumental in advancing our goal to make Wells Fargo one of the most well-respected, consistently growing financial institutions in the country.”