Major ClientsWide moat

Bank of America (BAC) — moat facet

Bank of America has 69 million clients and none it needs to name; the risk is not concentration but the speed of its largest depositors.

Bank of America has no major clients in the sense this page usually means. Its annual report carries no customer-concentration disclosure, and the bank serves about 69 million consumer and small business clients1. No single depositor, borrower or trading counterparty is large enough to be named.

Average deposits by segment, Q2 2026 ($bn)957.0Consumer Banking651.9Global BankingBank of America Q2 2026 results release
Household money outweighs corporate money.

For a bank, revenue concentration is the wrong question. The useful one is which customers could leave quickly, and those are the large ones: Global Banking's corporate clients held average deposits of $651.9 billion in the second quarter of 20262, and the bank's estimated uninsured deposits were about $857.9 billion at the end of 202534. That exposure is discussed on the page Forty-Two Percent Is Uninsured.

The client base splits four ways. Households and small businesses supply the cheapest money. Corporate treasurers supply large operating balances and buy lending, cash management and advice; the bank has relationships with 78% of the Global Fortune 5005. Small businesses borrow, and the bank calls itself the leading small business lender. And governments are clients, as municipal bond issuers and as programme partners, and occasionally adversaries.

Credit quality across the client base has been improving. Net charge-offs were $6,031 million in 2024, a ratio of 0.57%, and $5,631 million in 2025, 0.50%6. The allowance for loan and lease losses was $14,264 million in June 2026, 1.08% of loans7, a cushion built for a much larger number of small losses rather than a few large ones.

The share of deposits that is uninsured is the figure to watch. A rise toward half would make the franchise more dependent on corporate confidence, the one kind of customer that has shown it can move billions in days.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

No concentration disclosure; uninsured deposits about 42.5% of the total.

The number that tests this moat
Reported
Consumer Banking average deposits, latest quarter
$957.0bn (Q2 2026)

The household base that makes concentration irrelevant; a sustained fall would shift the mix toward faster corporate money.

Source: Bank of America Q2 2026 earnings release ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
Sixty-Nine Million Clients, and Not One That Matters
Bank of America's 69 million clients mean no customer can hurt it alone, and a recession can reach all of them at once.
DIG DEEPER 02
The Corporate Treasurer and $652 Billion
Bank of America holds $652 billion for corporate treasurers who could move it faster than any household.
DIG DEEPER 03
The Small Business Owner: Twenty Quarters at Number One
Bank of America has been the country's leading small business lender for twenty straight quarters, which is where tomorrow's corporate clients come…
DIG DEEPER 04
The Government as Client and Litigant
Bank of America calls itself the No. 1 municipal bond underwriter and is in dispute with states over programmes it runs for them.
References
  1. ReportedIts annual report carries no customer-concentration disclosure, and the bank serves about 69 million consumer and small business clients.
    Bank of America Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 business: footprint, clients and employees. — FY2025 · publ. 25 February 2026 · source ↗
  2. ReportedThe useful one is which customers could leave quickly, and those are the large ones: Global Banking's corporate clients held average deposits of $651.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026, and the bank's estimated uninsured deposits were about $857.9 billion at the end of 2025.
    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 ↗
  3. ReportedThe useful one is which customers could leave quickly, and those are the large ones: Global Banking's corporate clients held average deposits of $651.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026, and the bank's estimated uninsured deposits were about $857.9 billion at the end of 2025.
    Bank of America Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1A risk factors and competition. — FY2025 · publ. 25 February 2026 · source ↗
  4. Moat Explorer calcThe useful one is which customers could leave quickly, and those are the large ones: Global Banking's corporate clients held average deposits of $651.9 billion in the second quarter of 2026, and the bank's estimated uninsured deposits were about $857.9 billion at the end of 2025.
    Moat Explorer calculation from Bank of America's reported figures ($ millions unless stated). Deposits: cost of total deposits = interest on interest-bearing deposits / (average interest-bearing + average noninterest-bearing deposits): 2019 7,188 / 1,380,326 = 0.52%; 2021 537 / 1,914,286 = 0.03%; 2022 4,718 / 1,986,158 = 0.24%; 2023 26,163 / 1,887,541 = 1.39%; 2024 38,442 / 1,924,106 = 2.00%; 2025 34,513 / 1,984,182 = 1.74% (1,469,705 + 514,477 = 1,984,182, about $1.98 trillion). Average total deposits 2015 1,155,860; 2021 1,914,286; 2022 1,986,158 (about $1.99 trillion); 2015 to 2025 1,984,182 / 1,155,860 - 1 = 72%. Noninterest-bearing share 744,035 / 1,914,286 = 38.9% (2021); 514,477 / 1,984,182 = 25.9% (2025). Noninterest-bearing decline 751,470 - 514,477 = 236,993 (about $237 billion). JPMorgan comparison: deposit cost gap 1.80% - 1.74% = 0.06 points; 0.0006 x 1,984,182 = about 1,190 (about $1.2 billion). JPMorgan revenue per dollar of average deposits 182,447 / 2,506,565 = 7.3 cents; Bank of America 113,097 / 1,984,182 = 5.7 cents. JPMorgan year-end deposits 2,559,320 / 2,018,729 - 1 = 27%; revenue 182,447 / 113,097 - 1 = 61%; market value 935.79 / 391.80 = 2.4 times. Net income margin JPMorgan 57,048 / 182,447 = 31.3%; Bank of America 30,509 / 113,097 = 27.0%. Efficiency gap 61.65% - 52% = 9.65 points x 113,097 = about 10,914 (about $10.9 billion). Loans to deposits 1,185,700 / 2,018,729 = 58.7%. Uninsured deposits 723.0 + 134.9 = 857.9 billion; 857.9 / 2,018.7 = 42.5%; insured and other 2,018.7 - 857.9 = 1,160.8 billion. Consumer deposits per checking account 957.0 billion / 38.7 million = about $24,700. Securities: held-to-maturity unrealised loss as a share of common equity 108,596 / 244,800 = 44% (2022); 82,094 / 276,100 = 30% (June 2026). Held-to-maturity amortised cost 2021 674,591 - 2025 522,685 = 151,906 (about $152 billion); 2020 438,279 to 2021 674,591 = +236,312 (about $236 billion); 2021 fair value 665,890 - cost 674,591 = -8,701. Runoff time 505,828 / 34,794 = 14.5 years. Agency MBS share of loss 67,309 / 80,257 = 84%. Net interest income H1 31,742 / 29,113 - 1 = 9.0%. Capital: CET1 headroom (11.2% - 10.0%) x 1,792 billion = about 21.5 billion; 2027 minimum 4.5% + 3.5% + 2.5% = 10.5%. Capital returned 2025 (8.1 + 21.433) / 29.055 = 101% of net income to common. Average diluted shares 7,680.9 / 11,236.2 - 1 = -31.6%. EPS growth (3.81 / 1.31)^(1/10) - 1 = 11.3% a year. Price to tangible book 56.03 / 29.37 = 1.91. Revenue 2023 102,769 to 2025 113,097 = +10%. Compensation 42,346 / 69,727 = 61% of noninterest expense. Financial centers 3,530 / 3,664 - 1 = -3.7%. Noninterest expense Q2 2026 18,627 / 17,183 - 1 = 8.4%. Berkshire holding 483,394,015 / 1,032,852,006 - 1 = -53%. Investment banking fees Q2 2025 implied 2.1 / 1.5 = 1.4 billion. Segments (FTE, 2025): segment revenue 43,673 + 24,883 + 24,108 + 24,096 = 116,760; less All Other 3,054 = 113,706; less FTE adjustment 609 = 113,097. Shares of total FTE revenue: Consumer 43,673 / 113,706 = 38.4%; GWIM 24,883 / 113,706 = 21.9%. Shares of net income 30,509: Consumer 12,245 = 40.1%; Global Banking 7,793 = 25.5%; Global Markets 6,111 = 20.0%; GWIM 4,670 = 15.3%. Net income margins: Consumer 12,245 / 43,673 = 28.0%; GWIM 4,670 / 24,883 = 18.8% (2024 4,263 / 22,929 = 18.6%; 2023 3,947 / 21,105 = 18.7%); Global Banking 7,793 / 24,108 = 32.3%; Global Markets 6,111 / 24,096 = 25.4%. Consumer net interest income 35,309 / 43,673 = 81%; Consumer provision 4,649 / 5,675 = 82%. Growth 2023-2025: Consumer 43,673 / 42,031 - 1 = 3.9%; GWIM 24,883 / 21,105 - 1 = 17.9%; Global Markets 24,096 / 19,533 - 1 = 23.4%; Global Banking net income 7,793 / 10,072 - 1 = -23%. Consumer H1 2026 revenue 11,336 + 11,049 = 22,385. GWIM net interest income 7,197 / 24,883 = 29%. Revenue per dollar of year-end assets: Global Markets 24,096 / 1,032,858 = 2.3 cents; Consumer 43,673 / 1,039,346 = 4.2 cents. GWIM client balances 4,751,394 / 4,252,106 - 1 = 11.7%, increase 499,288; net flows 81,997 / 4,252,106 = 1.9%; consumer investment assets 639.5 / 599.1 - 1 = 6.7%. Revenue per dollar of balances: Private Bank 4,167 / 759,082 = 0.55%; Merrill 20,716 / 3,992,312 = 0.52%; Private Bank share of GWIM balances 759,082 / 4,751,394 = 16% and revenue 4,167 / 24,883 = 17%. Investment and brokerage services 19,956 / 17,766 - 1 = 12.3%. Common equity 277,251 / total assets 3,411,738 = 8.1%. AUM net flows 81,997 / 2,177,708 = 3.8%. Held-to-maturity loss 2023 97,994 / 263,249 = 37%. Share price 56.03 / 52-week high 65.23 - 1 = -14%. First half 2026 (Q1 + Q2): Consumer Banking revenue 11,049 + 11,336 = 22,385 and net income 3,060 + 3,281 = 6,341; Global Banking net income 2,087 + 2,046 = 4,133; Global Markets revenue 7,109 + 8,022 = 15,131 - segment shares, margins and growth. — 2015-2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Arithmetic on figures reported in Bank of America's Forms 10-K and 10-Q, earnings releases, JPMorgan's 10-K, Berkshire 13F tables and market data; operands shown in the source line.
  5. ReportedCorporate treasurers supply large operating balances and buy lending, cash management and advice; the bank has relationships with 78% of the Global Fortune 500.
    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 ↗
  6. ReportedNet charge-offs were $6,031 million in 2024, a ratio of 0.57%, and $5,631 million in 2025, 0.50%.
    Bank of America fourth-quarter 2025 supplemental information, Form 8-K exhibit 99.3 - net charge-offs for 2024 and 2025. — Q4 2025 · publ. 14 January 2026 · source ↗
  7. ReportedThe allowance for loan and lease losses was $14,264 million in June 2026, 1.08% of loans, a cushion built for a much larger number of small losses rather than a few large ones.
    Bank of America second-quarter 2026 earnings release, Form 8-K exhibit 99.1 - consolidated results, credit quality, capital and forward-looking risks. — Q2 2026 · publ. 14 July 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 25, 2026