Some banks are seeing new stresses among certain retail customers, hinting at challenges to come as a resilient US consumer navigates a series of challenges in the second half of this year.
Executives from Wells Fargo (WFC), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) and Capital One (COF) all said this past week that they are noticing a divergence between the two ends of their customer base, with lower income consumers feeling more pain on several fronts. They cited some credit deterioration, savings declines, and spending slowdowns.
Fifth Third CEO Timothy Spence said checking account data at his Cincinnati-based bank show financial difficulties for lower-income customers are more pronounced for people who don’t own their homes.
“Renters with lower incomes are essentially back to or below pre-pandemic levels of liquidity. There is no buffer left there,” Spencer said Wednesday at a Barclays…
