Say what you will about Bank of America (BAC -0.13%) and its shoddy reputation -- I, for one, have said my fair share -- but one thing continues to hold true: People love giving it their money.
Data released by the FDIC this week showed that the nation's second largest bank by assets has once again secured its place as the king of deposits. At the end of the second quarter, it reported an industry-leading $1.15 trillion in deposits, equating to a 12.2% share of the national market.
It's hard not to appreciate this feat. Banks were effectively banned from owning and operating out-of-state branches until the 1970s. As the laws and regulations loosened up over the next four decades, a race for national market share ignited, culminating in a series of "mergers among equals" that produced the banking behemoths of today.
And after all was said and done, Bank of America stood atop its peers.
The question now is whether it will continue to do so in the future. The biggest threat comes from the next two depository institutions on the list, Wells Fargo (WFC -0.56%) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 0.49%). Both emerged from the financial crisis in better shape than Bank of America did and have since sought to capitalize on that advantage.
You can see this in the year-over-year growth of deposit balances. While Bank of America's total deposits grew by 1.55% over last year, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan's grew by 9% and 10%, respectively. Even Citigroup (C -0.32%), the long-considered basket case of Wall Street, notched an impressive 13% uptick in deposits compared to 2012.
Whichever way you look at it, however, it's Bank of America's crown to lose.
