✦ BofA Rewards and the Primary AccountNarrow moat
Bank of America (BAC) — the future bets
BofA Rewards signed up 13.3 million clients in its first month, a way to pay depositors that does not show in the deposit rate.
Bank of America launched BofA Rewards on 27 May 2026, and by the end of June 13.3 million clients had enrolled1. The programme is aimed at the thing the deposit franchise depends on: making the Bank of America account the one customers use for everything.
It builds on digital habits already in place. The bank had 50 million active digital banking users in the second quarter of 2026, and 70% of total sales were digitally enabled2. The page Fifty Million Digital Users and 3,530 Branches covers Erica and the rest of the digital franchise.
A loyalty programme is a bet that customers value rewards more than rate. If it works, the share of deposits held in checking accounts, 59% for Consumer Banking3, and the low rate paid on them can be defended without raising prices.
The risk is cost: a loyalty programme is a way of paying depositors that does not show up in the rate paid.
The accounts the programme targets are already mostly primary. The bank reports that 92% of its 38.7 million consumer checking accounts are primary4; the programme is aimed at deepening those relationships more than at winning new ones.
Enrolment is the early number; the one that matters is the consumer rate paid, 0.48% in the second quarter of 20265. If rewards are keeping customers, the rate should stay low; if the bank also has to raise the rate, it will be paying twice for the same deposits.
13.3M enrolled by June 2026.
Take-up of the loyalty programme; growth alongside a rising rate paid would mean the bank was paying twice for its deposits.
Source: Bank of America Q2 2026 earnings release ↗- ReportedBank of America launched BofA Rewards on 27 May 2026, and by the end of June 13.3 million clients had enrolled.Bank of America second-quarter 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - consumer and digital highlights: checking accounts, Zelle, Erica, BofA Rewards, financial centers. — Q2 2026 · publ. 14 July 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedThe bank had 50 million active digital banking users in the second quarter of 2026, and 70% of total sales were digitally enabled.Bank of America second-quarter 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - consumer and digital highlights: checking accounts, Zelle, Erica, BofA Rewards, financial centers. — Q2 2026 · publ. 14 July 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedIf it works, the share of deposits held in checking accounts, 59% for Consumer Banking, and the low rate paid on them can be defended without raising prices.Bank of America second-quarter 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - segment results, returns on allocated capital and business highlights. — Q2 2026 · publ. 14 July 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedThe bank reports that 92% of its 38.7 million consumer checking accounts are primary; the programme is aimed at deepening those relationships more than at winning new ones.Bank of America second-quarter 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - consumer and digital highlights: checking accounts, Zelle, Erica, BofA Rewards, financial centers. — Q2 2026 · publ. 14 July 2026 · source ↗
- ReportedEnrolment is the early number; the one that matters is the consumer rate paid, 0.48% in the second quarter of 2026.Bank of America second-quarter 2026 earnings presentation, Form 8-K exhibit 99.2 - Consumer Banking rate paid and cost of deposits. — Q2 2026 · publ. 14 July 2026 · source ↗
- Bank of America Form 10-K, FY2025
- Bank of America Q2 2026 earnings release
- Bank of America Q2 2026 presentation