"A silent migration across checking accounts is redrawing the map of customer stickiness. Customers aren't closing existing accounts or storming off after a bad experience. Instead, they're moving the greater part of their financial activity elsewhere while keeping their old accounts open. Their linked debit cards still exist in the drawer. Their credit cards still accrue small charges. But the nucleus - the 'primary account' - is relocating."
"In Q3 2025, approximately half of all new US checking (52%) and investment (48%) accounts opened were additional accounts. At first glance, this looks like a healthy diversification strategy. But the deeper pattern is more telling: 72% of people who opened "additional" or "replacement" checking accounts switched to a different provider, and more than half of those (54%) made it their primary account."
Customers are quietly relocating their primary financial relationships to newly opened accounts while keeping legacy accounts active. In Q3 2025, roughly 52% of new US checking and 48% of new investment accounts were additional accounts. Seventy-two percent of people who opened additional or replacement checking accounts switched providers, and 54% of those made the new account their primary. This soft switching reflects prioritization of value, experience, and convenience over brand loyalty and branch presence. The shift is silent because old accounts remain open and continue small activity, masking loss of the core relationship. Banks therefore may overestimate retention and under-detect churn risks.
Read at Tearsheet
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