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Wealth deposits growth slowed in 2025 and continued to in Q1 compared to last year at this time (see chart). Besides flagging CD growth in the falling rate environment, why the underperformance?
- Client acquisition has lagged. In Wealth deposits, this pertains to existing investment and private banking clients who deepen into deposits. Compared with acquisition time last year, client acquisition has contracted by three percentage points, and clients who did open new accounts did so with fewer net new dollars.
- Money in motion has declined. While outflows have been higher YoY (103.9% vs. 101.5%), higher inflows to existing accounts have nearly offset that difference. That said, migrations (clients moving across LOBs) contributed to 2% net balance growth over the past year, although down from 3.4% the prior year.
- Attrition has remained nearly flat. Client-level attrition in Wealth can be particularly worrisome because clients tend to move their investments when they move their deposits relationship. So one piece of good news is that client attrition remains extremely low (2.7% of balances vs. 2.8% the prior year).
Wealth Deposits Year-Over-Year Flow of Funds | Feb ‘26
Source(s): Curinos Wealth Deposit Analyzer | Note(s): Simple averages displayed | Page displays all data available at time of production and benchmark may differ from that of Wealth Deposit Analyzer tool | Metrics definitions: Acquisition denotes new balances, Net Switch is the net flow of balances going into other product types at the bank, Change to Existing is the net augmentation / diminishment on existing accounts, Attrition is the balances leaving the bank, and Total is the net growth in balances. Growth may vary slightly due to exclusion of missing flow data.
What can banks do to buck the trend?
- Make sure advisors are having conversations with their clients about their everyday cash. It’s the biggest opportunity to consolidate deposits and investments in one place.
- When CDs mature, have a strategy in place to retain balances, either in deposits or across the balance sheet to investments. Clients will inevitably be maturing into a lower yield than they received in early 2025, or even just a few months ago. One option is to offer attractive savings/MMS rates through exception pricing based on client’s total relationship.
- Deploy a strategy to attract mass affluent clients, many of whom will graduate to the Wealth segment over time. Making a referral to an advisor at an appropriate time will not only meet the clients’ immediate needs but also grow future relationships.
