Simplicity Is the Key to Victory at Wells Fargo

Derivatives. Credit default swaps. Proprietary trading. Market making.

Listen to some industry leaders, and you may think this is what modern-day banking is all about. But that would be a mistake, and Wells Fargo (WFC -0.56%) is all the proof you need. 

Yes, JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.49%) has the largest derivatives portfolio of all U.S. banks, and yes, Citigroup (C -0.32%) has operations in over 90 countries. Even Bank of America (BAC -0.13%), a bank that, five years later, still struggles to deal with a pre-crisis acquisition spree, ranks among the top performers in the S&P for 2012.

But if you boil it down, of the largest U.S. banks, only Wells is truly outperforming. Wells leads these banks in growth, in return on equity, and in return on assets. And it is doing it the old-fashioned way, with deposits, loans, and cash management.