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Market Intelligence
A Fintech Firm Opens More Checking Accounts Than Any Bank
Quick: Which financial firm opened the most new checking accounts in the first quarter of 2026? If you answered JPMorgan Chase & Co. or Wells Fargo & Co., guess again. It was Chime Financial, the upstart fintech with the user-friendly app and low fee structure that has taken millennial and younger mass market customers by storm. J.D. Power, the consumer research firm, reported on April 30 that San Francisco-based Chime opened 12.4% of new checking accounts in the first three months, followed not-so-closely by Chase at 8.6%, Wells Fargo (7.7%) and Bank of America Corp. (6.2%). Chime also opened 7.1%…
Steady As She Goes — For Now
Loan growth is the lifeblood of the average margin-dependent bank, and economic uncertainty can tamp down demand. But data from the past decade shows a generally upward trajectory. Commercial banks had $13.7 trillion of loans and leases on the books at the beginning of April, according to data from the Federal Reserve System, up 63% over the past decade and nearly 7% from a year earlier. “The mix of loans has changed, but overall things are rocking along pretty well,” says Jeff Davis, managing director of the financial institutions group at Mercer Capital. Bank loan demand is always heavily influenced…
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WRITTEN BY
John Engen
Contributing Writer
John Engen is a contributing writer for Bank Director. He has more than 30 years of experience as a business journalist, writing for a variety of newspapers and magazines, and was a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press. He graduated with a degree in economics and international relations from the University of Minnesota and did his post-graduate work in Asian studies at the University of Hawai’i.