Winning More Deposits Depends on Beating Fintechs at Their Own Game

Fintechs and digital banks have raised the bar over the past decade, redefining what consumers expect from their financial institutions (FIs). Through sleek, user-friendly experiences, they have captured huge market share and grown deposits at a pace that most traditional FIs are struggling to match.

So, how do you play catch-up? Surface-level interface upgrades aren’t enough. To regain the competitive edge and meet consumers where they are, you need a digital-first, customer-native mindset that accounts for every touchpoint, whether a customer is visiting a branch or looking to open a deposit account from their phone. 

A Movement Decades in the Making - And Still Gaining Speed

Digital banking has been around almost as long as the internet itself. But over the past decade, it’s quickly evolved from a convenient add-on into a competitive imperative. What was once considered a nice-to-have has become the cornerstone of deposit growth, customer loyalty, and market relevance.

Ally Bank’s IPO in 2014 signaled that digital-first banking wasn’t just viable, it was scalable. By 2021, SoFi and Affirm’s public debuts cemented the fintech and digital banking model as a serious threat to legacy institutions.

And that was not merely a pandemic-era anomaly, as evidenced by Chime’s $864 million IPO in June 2025. The momentum of mobile-first banking is moving forward at full speed, and consumers are rewarding those who deliver it with their deposits.

Where Digital Players Are Outperforming Traditional FIs

There’s a pervasive belief that digital players are winning the deposit war simply because they offer higher annual percentage yields (APYs) that attract customers. While it’s true that they are often able to offer better rates due to lower operational costs, that’s far from the whole story.

More than anything else, fintechs and digital banks are winning through customer experience. UX-friendly mobile interfaces, instant ID verification, and fast approvals create a seamless customer journey that consumers have come to expect from all brands they engage with.

They’re also winning big on personalization and thoughtful cross-selling. While traditional banks and credit unions typically have a more expansive product suite, digital providers excel at amplifying theirs through situational cross-product offers, like linking savings accounts to credit-building tools or pairing checking accounts with tailored loan offers. The result is a value-driven customer experience and loyalty that doesn’t rely solely on rates.

Another important, yet underreported advantage that digital banks and fintechs have is their ability to form agile partnerships, especially with other digital players. Where traditional FIs often get bogged down in months of procurement, digital banks and fintechs are able to quickly partner with other providers and reap the benefits, whether it’s through joint ventures, referral arrangements, or by leveraging each other's technology and their respective strengths.

Your Customer Experience Needs a Rethink, Not a Reskin

Most banks and credit unions are actively investing in digital, so the problem isn’t a lack of ambition. The issue is how they’re carrying out the mission.

Too many FIs still treat digital transformation like a cosmetic project. Upgrading UI or rolling out a new mobile app won’t move the needle if customers still have to re-enter the same information across multiple systems or wait days for account approval, especially when their competitors are onboarding customers in minutes with personalized offers and seamless journeys.

That doesn’t mean that FIs can, or should, rip out their core, adopt a dozen fintech tools, and launch a brand-new experience overnight. In fact, working with technology partners that can seamlessly integrate with your existing core should be a given. After all, a great customer experience shouldn’t come at the cost of increased backend complexity. (For more on this, read our blog post on Buying vs. Building.)

A strategic, phased approach that prioritizes experiential improvements over superficial ones can create real change fast, especially when those improvements are designed to work within your existing infrastructure and scale as your customer experience evolves.

It starts with a mindset shift: from bolting on features to rethinking the experience. From “we added a mobile form” to “we’ve reimagined how a customer opens an account.”

Deposit Account Opening is Your Make-or-Break Moment

For many banks and credit unions, deposit accounts are primarily opened in-branch, relying on face-to-face identity verification and manual controls. But as more consumers shift their banking behaviors online, that in-person safeguard doesn’t always apply. Digital account opening introduces new risks and expectations that require a different outlook.

If onboarding feels slow or disjointed, would-be deposit customers won’t wait around. They’ll move on to another provider that offers a faster, smoother process. Features that reduce friction, like auto-filled fields and real-time fraud checks, aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re the baseline for meeting customer expectations and preventing abandonment before the first deposit ever hits the account.

And with more than half of consumers using mobile apps as their primary banking channel, your account opening experience needs to be built for mobile, not just compatible with it. If it’s not up to par, there is no shortage of competitors who are just a few taps away.

Win Loyalty Without Playing the Rate Game

Yes, rates drive traffic and still matter, but they rarely lead to long-term loyalty. In fact, rate-chasers often switch providers once a better offer appears.

To counter this behavior, FIs need to shift their focus from short-term, transactional incentives to value-driven loyalty and leverage their existing strengths, some of which digital providers lack altogether:

• Offer behavioral rewards, like bonuses for direct deposit or automated savings.
• Deliver free financial tools, like budgeting, automated bill paying, or credit monitoring.
• Tap into community roots through local partnerships, content, and events.
• Provide tailored financial guidance based on real-time data, such as identifying a self-employed customer with only a credit product and offering guidance on how to separate personal and business finances or prepare for tax payments. Paired with the right financial tools, this kind of proactive, context-aware advice can deepen trust and position your institution as a true partner.

Delivering these experiences at scale, and in real time, takes more than the right intentions. It requires a unified, data-driven platform.

The Connection Between Deposits, Lending, and Loyalty

Unifying deposits and lending on a single platform offers more than just operational efficiency. It’s what enables you to leverage the same tactics to engage customers that digital banks and fintechs are using to beat traditional FIs:

• Cross-selling: Tailor offers based on deposit behaviors and lending history.
• Customer retention: Build long-term relationships across multiple financial products.
• Personalization: Use real-time data to offer the right product at the right moment.
• Lifecycle analytics: Understand where customers are headed, and get there first.

Solutions like Amount’s unified origination and lending platform are making it possible. From consumer loans to checking accounts, everything lives in one system with built-in fraud prevention, fast approvals, and automated workflows.

Don't Just Adapt. Meet the Moment With Intention.

While it can seem like an uphill battle to compete with fintechs’ and digital banks’ sleek offerings, traditional banks and credit unions have years of hard-earned trust and established relationships on their side.

But to stay relevant and win more deposits, they need to take a strategic, transformative approach to improving their customer experience to deliver the mobile banking journeys that today’s consumers expect.

With a modern, unified origination and lending platform and a digital-first mindset, FIs can compete like fintechs and win with the trust they’ve earned.

How well equipped are you to close the competitive gap? Find out in our ebook:

Missing the Moment: How Outdated Processes Drive Customers to Your Competitors.