Banks could find themselves facing growth restrictions like the ones Wells Fargo & Co. is currently subject to following an update to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's enforcement manual, according to President and CEO Charles Scharf.

The OCC last week updated its enforcement action manual to codify the steps it will take if a bank fails to address persistent weaknesses in a timely manner, including growth restrictions or requirements to simplify operations. The update comes after Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu laid out similar steps in a January speech.

Speaking at a recent industry conference, Wells Fargo's chief executive said the agency is making clear that banks can expect restrictions — like Wells Fargo's asset cap — if they do not remediate issues promptly.

"We have the asset cap. We have a growth restriction. And in a lot of ways, people who cover banks saw that as something kind of coming out of nowhere," he said. "Now what the OCC is doing is they're making very clear if you don't close issues, you can expect things like that and they were clear about additional actions that they could take."

Further, the guidance underscores that Wells Fargo remains "at risk" until it remediates its ongoing issues and regulatory consent orders, Scharf said.

"Until the work is complete, we're either at risk of the regulator saying [it's] taking too long, or until the work is complete, we'll still have gaps in our control infrastructure, and we can still discover things," he said.

Execution of the bank's planned improvements is key, he added.

"For us, given the fact, as I said, that we do have these outstanding issues, that we do have to execute," he said. "We tried to be very clear in all of our filings that until our work is done, we're still at risk — we're at risk of execution. Even though I feel good about our ability to execute, it's still a lot to do. And we're at risk that there are things in our control environment that we'll find that we'll have to fix, and we have these long-standing dates," he added.

Separately, the bank is bracing for heightened regulation following the recent bank failures.

The company anticipates that regulators will impose higher capital requirements not just for Wells Fargo, but for "a broader range of banks," Scharf said. Such heightened capital requirements could affect lending availability, he said.

Wells Fargo is also taking a harder look at its liquidity assumptions and modeling due to recent industry events. Though the company's current assumptions and modeling are conservative, "it is easier to move money today than it was the last time there was a crisis, so we're reacting to that," Scharf said.

Any banks that aren't taking a new look at their liquidity assumptions are "making a mistake," he added.