Citigroup (C), JPMorgan (JPM), and Wells Fargo (WFC) are scheduled to report quarterly results before the open on October 15. What to watch for: 1. OUTLOOKS: During the company’s last earnings call, Citi said it plans to return $21.5B of capital to shareholders over the next four quarters. The company also said it sees tax rate of 22%-23% in the second half of 2019, card NCL rates to be lower in the second half of the year versus the first half, and “modest” revenue growth for 2019. Back in July, JPMorgan said it sees fiscal year 2019 adjusted expense of less than $66B, and 2019 net charge-offs of about $5.5B. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo said it expects fiscal year 2019 NII to be down near 6%, and fiscal year 2019 and 2020 expenses close to $53B. 2. NEW WELLS CEO: The board of Wells Fargo announced late last month that it has named Charles Scharf as the company’s CEO and president, and a member of the board, effective October 21. Following the announcement, Argus analyst Stephen Biggar upgraded Wells Fargo to Buy from a Hold with a price target of $60. The analyst was positive on Scharf’s “impressive industry background” to improve Wells Fargo’s financial performance, noting that he is a former protege of JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon. Biggar expects the new CEO to initially focus on addressing the company’s regulatory issues which had stifled growth and working toward removal of the Federal Reserve’s $2T asset cap imposed on the bank. Not as bullish, Baird analyst David George downgraded Wells Fargo to Neutral from Outperform, saying that while he likes the new CEO choice, the macro headwinds of slow growth and low rates are real, and improving the earnings run-rate and efficiency will take time. 3. BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK: Deutsche Bank (DB) has signed up to the JPMorgan Chase-led Interbank Information Network, the financial services industry’s biggest blockchain project, The Financial Times’ Laura Noonan reported. “Having Deutsche join — and hopefully Deutsche will be the first of several other large banks — is going to help us drive towards ubiquity and ubiquity is a pre-requisite for the success of the network,” says Takis Georgakopoulos, head of payments at JPMorgan. 4. CITI TO CUT JOBS: Citigroup is planning to cut “hundreds” of jobs across its global markets division as the bank responds to challenging market conditions, Financial Times’ Laura Noonan reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. Citi is also merging its equities and prime services division into a single unit – Equities and Securities Services – to create an “integrated offering” for its clients, the bank’s co-heads of securities services Carey Lathrop and Andy Morton wrote in a memo, seen by the publication.