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"Nobody's going to not buy a house because the mortgage rates
went up 25 or 50 basis points," Stumpf said in New York at a
conference hosted by Goldman Sachs.
The Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 25
basis points later this month for the first time in more than
nine years though the U.S. economic recovery is still weak by
some measures such as wage growth.
Stumpf expressed surprise consumers have not been spending the
money they are saving from low gasoline prices.
"Part of that's confidence," said Stumpf, who also blamed
regulations.
Asked whether banks would compete aggressively for customer
deposits once the Fed begins rate hikes, Stumpf said probably
not, since lending is not especially attractive from a
risk-reward perspective.
"I happen to think we will see a tepid response for the first
couple of moves especially. It's just not enough to matter and I
don't know what the liquidity is going to be used for," Stumpf
said.
Stumpf said he sees the best opportunity for the bank in its
wealth and investment management business, despite strong
performance so far.
Citing recent performance, Stumpf said, "it's a very very good
business, but it could be a number of factors times that."
(Reporting by Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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