Big Bank Earnings Show Digital Activity Drives Deposits

The latest round of big bank earnings offers a clear signal that digital channels are central to how deposits are gathered, retained and expanded.

Across JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, executives outlined a system in which mobile usage, client activity and consumer spending reinforce each other. The result is a feedback loop in which engagement leads to transactions, transactions support balances and balances provide the funding base for further lending and services.

Deposits Rise Alongside Client Activity

The tale’s told in supplemental earnings materials and details from quarterly conference calls. At JPMorgan, deposits climbed 7% year over year to $2.6 trillion, while average loans increased 11%, reflecting continued client engagement across consumer and institutional channels.

Wells Fargo reported a 7% increase in deposits, with average balances rising to roughly $1.4 trillion, while consumer checking account openings increased more than 15%.

Bank of America posted average deposits up 3% to $2.02 trillion alongside 9% loan growth, with management emphasizing that every business line contributed to those gain.

Citigroup’s Services business showed deposits up 16%, tied to client activity and new mandates across institutional channel.

The figures point to a consistent outcome. Deposits are moving in tandem with how actively customers engage across digital and transactional channels.

PYMNTS Intelligence data, as noted in the 2024 “How the World Does Digital” report, anticipated that shift in behavior. In the United States, 85% of consumers now use multiple digital features regularly, and more than one-third rely heavily on those features in their daily routines. Digital banking was tied to roughly 23 “activity days” in the U.S., with heavy usage among younger demographics.

Those repeated interactions matter for deposits. When a consumer’s financial life is anchored in a bank’s digital interface, balances tend to remain within that ecosystem. Activity reinforces familiarity, and familiarity reinforces retention.

Digital Channels Convert Usage Into Accounts and Balances

Wells Fargo’s results illustrate how that activity translates into tangible growth. The bank reported a sharp rise in digital interactions alongside increases in account openings and credit card issuance, with new card accounts up nearly 60%.

Bank of America has described a similar pattern, linking customer utilization of its digital tools to both operational efficiency and sustained client activity. The firm’s payments ecosystem, which processed $4.5 trillion in 2025, reflects steady growth in transaction volumes that originate through digital channels.

“All that activity remains a key differentiator for us, driving continued growth in deposits, investment assets, lending balances and trade counter parties,” Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said during the earnings call with analysts. “This combines with that strong engagement across our digital platforms.”

The cross-pollination between digital usage and deposits is most visible in spending data.

Bank of America reported total consumer and small business spending up 6% year over year, with transactions up 4%. Citigroup posted a 6% increase in card spending in its U.S. consumer business. These figures reflect sustained transaction activity flowing through digital and card-based channels.

The earnings supplementals reveal that active mobile banking customers numbered 41.8 million in the latest quarter, up from 40.5 million a year ago. Seventy-one percent of consumer sales came through digital channels, according to Bank of America materials, compared to 65% in the 2025 first quarter.

As for Wells Fargo, mobile active customers were 33.5 million in the first quarter this year, up from 31.8 million last year. JPMorgan indicated that active mobile customers of 63 million were up 7% from the year ago period.

Deposits remain central to funding models, particularly as interest rate dynamics influence margins. Wells Fargo cited higher deposit balances and lower deposit costs as contributors to net interest income growth.

Loyalty among users hinges on which institutions can translate that engagement into durable relationships. As activity becomes more frequent and more embedded in daily routines, the banks that provide consistent, intuitive digital experiences are more likely to retain balances and capture a larger share of customer activity.