September 9, 2026
Bonus Content: BAC’s 50 Million Digital Users Are Its Cheapest Funding Lever
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BAC’s 50 Million Digital Users Are Its Cheapest Funding Lever
Most traders watching BAC look at net interest income. That is the right number, but they are often asking the wrong question about it. The real question is not how much NII the bank earns, but why it can keep earning more of it even as the rate environment shifts.
The answer sits in the digital engagement data that management drops into every earnings call and that most investors skim past.
The deposit engine hiding in plain sight
Bank of America reported about 50 million active digital banking users and 4.4 billion digital logins during Q2 2026. That last figure, 4.4 billion logins in a single quarter, is the one that matters most to anyone thinking about deposit stickiness. Customers who check their balance daily on a bank’s app do not move their money to a competitor offering 15 extra basis points.
Digital tools, security, and rewards help the bank win operating accounts and maintain a favorable deposit mix. It is a reminder that digital engagement is not just a service channel, but a core part of deposit economics.
That distinction is worth sitting with. Every incremental Erica user is not a tech vanity metric. It is a depositor who is slightly harder to dislodge.
What the rate cycle reveals
Bank of America reported 24.6 million active Erica users in Q2 2026, up 23% year over year. Digitally enabled sales accounted for 70% of total sales in the quarter, up from 65% a year ago, while about 80% of consumer households actively used digital banking services.
The rate environment is the crucial context here. Management’s position is that their strong liquidity and funding position means they do not need to chase rate-sensitive balances, because other relationship values like rewards, digital access, and security features allow the bank to offer customers attractive terms without competing purely on rate.
That is management’s claim. The data supports it. Average deposit balances were $2.02 trillion, up more than 2% year over year. That marked the bank’s 12th consecutive quarter of sequential average deposit growth.
The trader’s read
Net interest income was $16.0 billion in Q2 2026, or $16.2 billion on a fully taxable equivalent basis, up 9% year over year.
Here is the lesson for active traders: digital user growth at a bank is a leading indicator for deposit cost, not a lagging one. When BAC adds millions of Erica users, it is building the infrastructure to hold deposits at below-market rates even if competitors raise theirs. That compresses funding costs in a way that takes quarters to fully show up in reported NII. By the time the margin expansion is visible in the income statement, the market has usually already priced it.
The forward curve currently bakes in one more hike. If that hike lands and competitors scramble to retain deposits with higher rates, BAC’s digitally engaged base acts as a buffer. Watch the non-interest-bearing deposit line. If it holds while industry peers see outflows, that is the signal.