U.S. Bancorp (USB) Barclays 23rd Annual Global Financial Services Conference summary

Leadership transition and strategic priorities

• New CEO has focused on building a strong leadership team and rewiring the organization for urgent execution over the past five months.

• Three key priorities are expense stabilization, organic growth, and payments transformation, all aimed at achieving medium-term financial targets.

• Significant time has been spent engaging with stakeholders, reinforcing the brand and culture, and identifying opportunities to deepen client relationships.

Financial performance and expense management

• Seven consecutive quarters of stable expenses have enabled positive operating leverage and continued investment in organic growth.

• Expense stabilization is driven by real productivity gains from digital investments and adoption of new technologies, including AI.

• Investments of $2.5 billion annually are split two-thirds toward growth initiatives and one-third toward system maintenance and defense.

• Additional investments are being made in sales, marketing, and distribution to further drive growth.

Payments transformation and business mix

• Payments are a core differentiator, with a focus on embedding products across the franchise and targeting high-growth, software-led verticals.

• Merchant business is shifting to software-led solutions, resulting in higher margins and growth rates compared to traditional acquiring.

• Card issuing, including the Elan platform and Smartly product suite, is being transformed to attract both revolvers and transactors, with expected acceleration in active accounts and revenue.