The news: Rate hikes and AI won’t accelerate deposit flight in the near term because consumers have already had years to optimize their savings, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said during the bank’s Q3 2026 earnings call.

BofA's Q3 results supported management's confidence:

• Total deposits exceeded $2 trillion, up $31 billion YoY. Non-interest-bearing deposits accounted for more than 75% of that growth.
• Consumer non-interest-bearing deposits grew more than 4% YoY, while 92% of consumer checking relationships were primary accounts.

Rewards support the bank’s relationship strategy: Nearly 6 million clients were enrolled in the revamped BofA Rewards as of Q3. The program deepened engagement across banking, investments, and cards: Combined credit and debit card spending reached $266 billion in Q3, up 8% year over year.

Why it matters: BofA's financial outlook assumes three more 25-basis-point interest rate hikes through June 2027, raising concerns that banks will have to pay more for deposits as consumers could move their money into higher-yielding accounts.

But management argued that this rate-hiking cycle will differ from the one that began in 2022.

• Consumers have already adjusted to higher rates: CFO Alastair Borthwick said much of the migration into higher-yielding products occurred when rates climbed from near zero to over 5%. After several years of elevated rates, consumers have had ample time to reposition their savings, potentially limiting another wave of deposit movement.
• Everyday banking balances serve a different purpose: Moynihan argued that consumers maintain checking balances to pay bills and manage transactions rather than maximize returns. AI agents automatically moving those funds could lead to missed payments and overdrafts.
• BofA doesn't need to compete aggressively for funding: With more than $2 trillion in deposits against approximately $1.2 trillion in loans, Moynihan argued that the bank has capacity to fund additional lending without raising APYs to attract deposits. 

Implications for banks: Agentic AI won’t trigger widespread deposit flight anytime soon.

Banks can even use agentic AI as a retention tool by proactively identifying opportunities for customers to earn more interest, avoid fees, or move excess cash into better-performing products within their existing institution—before another agent tells them to move that money somewhere else. 

Savings strategies were the most common financial advice topic among US consumers who used AI for financial guidance, at 41%, per a March J.D. Power survey.  Banks that combine cross-product benefits with proactive financial guidance will be better positioned to defend deposits than those relying on customer inertia alone.

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