INTEREST

deposits” as interest rates move higher and the Fed continues to normalize its balance sheet. What that means is less cash to go around and thus “an increasingly competitive” environment for banks looking to gather and keep funds.

Until now, banks have been able to keep a lid on deposit offers because so few customers were demanding higher rates. Indeed, just 7 percent of deposit customers pay close attention to rates on their accounts and would move their money if they found a better offer, according to a recent study by the financial advisory firm Raddon.

But Bill Handel, Raddon’s director of research, said he is reminding banking clients that 15 percent of their customers typically control as much as 90 percent of their deposits. And they are very much aware of the interest they’re getting.

“The percentage of people who do pay attention to these things control an outsize percentage of actual deposit balances,” Handel said. Banks “are going to have to start paying attention to this more than they have.”

This time around, banks are also facing unprecedented pressure from online-only banks such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Marcus and Ally Financial Inc., which are able to offer some of the highest rates in the industry without the fixed costs of branches holding them back. That means patient depositors could also find themselves the beneficiary of other special offers as banks come up with creative ways to compete with these new entrants.

“In addition to rates, you’re going to see other features; for example, companies might be saying, ‘Hey, we’ll give you more reward points on your credit card purchases if you have a credit card and a certain size deposit with us,”’ Tom Michaud, chief executive of Keefe Bruyette & Woods, said in a telephone interview.

“They may use rewards points. They may waive other fees.”