While it will be easier for banks to make money when interest rates are higher, things could be worse right now, Wells Fargo Chief Financial Officer John Shrewsberry said Friday.
"We are in a low rate environment but … we managed to generate $5.6 billion worth of net income and we did it by growing loans 9 percent year over year. We did it by growing deposits. We did it by growing a variety of fee streams," he said in an interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell."
In fact, Wells Fargo had 39 basis points of losses on average loans, which is a cyclical low, Shrewsberry noted.
"We've been a little bit lower previously, but credit is not really a bad story for us right now. The portfolio overall is performing really well. It will be better when rates are higher," he said.
Wells Fargo reported quarterly earnings of $1.01 a share on Friday, matching analysts' expectations. Revenue was just shy of forecasts, however, at $22.16 billion, versus a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $22.17 billion.
The bank also reported higher credit losses of $924 million for the second quarter, compared with the previous quarter, in part driven by $59 million higher oil and gas portfolio losses.
Shrewsberry said the bank's loan growth was broad based and namely in commercial lending, commercial real estate, jumbo mortgages, autos and credit cards.
He also believes the consumer is "pretty strong," as evidenced by the uptick in homebuying and the better-than-expected jobs report for June.
"The GDP growth that we have, however lackluster, has been driven by the consumer. The consumer's got more cash in the bank. The consumer's got a better credit profile overall," he said.
— CNBC's Jon Marino contributed to this report.