Majors mind margins, shed deposit share

Ian Rogers

In a sign that big banks may be managing for margin, more than defending market share, the share of the household deposits held by the big four banks has declined materially this calendar year.

APRA data for August 2022, released on Friday, shows the combined market share in household deposits for ANZ, Commonwealth, NAB and Westpac was 77.88 per cent (though 45 bps of NAB’s share is down to its recent takeover of Citi’s Australian business). 

At the end of December 2021 (still some months before financial conditions began to tighten globally) the big four’s deposit share was 78.56 per cent.

Three years ago their market share was 79.7 per cent.

A handful of banks (both pretty big and pretty small) are making noteworthy gains in the household deposit market.

The hard-charging Macquarie Bank’s deposit market share in August was 3.46 per cent. Macquarie has added 100 basis points in market share over the last year.

Tasmanian-based MyState Bank, which is in the midst of a national marketing push, is also growing at major multiples of system, reporting growth in deposits of 2.4 times system in August alone, and 3.1 times system over three months.

While the market share of Judo Bank, at 0.25 per cent, is small in the scheme of things, the persistent leader in term deposit pricing over recent years is seeing its positioning on price reflected in a steady advance in market share.