Warning signs of a gradual decline in key customer engagement metrics are starting to flash for retail banks, according to the JD Power 2026 U.S. Retail Banking Satisfaction Study, as customers increasingly open deposit accounts with multiple institutions.
“Retail banks are confronting an incredibly complex, highly nuanced set of challenges in the current marketplace,” said Jennifer White, senior director of financial services intelligence at JD Power. “While overall customer satisfaction is holding steady, cracks are emerging at key points in the customer journey, which are opening the door to quietly establish new accounts with other institutions and gradually shift funds away from their primary bank.
“JD Power is seeing signs of this ‘soft switching’ phenomenon across various datasets, and it is coming through clearly in the Retail Banking Satisfaction Study in the form of declining levels of customer satisfaction with personal service interactions over the course of the past 12 months.”
Key findings on retail banks
Customer satisfaction declines across most common touchpoints: While overall customer satisfaction with retail banks climbs two points (on a 1,000-point scale) to 657 in 2026, sharp declines in the second half of the year show growing strain in the customer experience with phone, branch, online and automated customer engagement channels.
More customers move money from their primary bank: The average retail bank checking account customer now maintains three deposit accounts at different institutions, and 20% of retail bank customers have moved money away from their primary bank within the past 3 months, up from 17% last year. Customers most likely to move money are those under age 40 (23%); those in the affluent/mass affluent wealth bracket (25%); and those who are financially healthy (24%).
National banks close gap with midsize banks on problem resolution: Satisfaction with the problem resolution experience climbs to 587 among national banks, which is up 49 points from 2024. Among midsize banks, the average problem resolution score is 548, which is down 27 points from 2024.
Banks offering great everyday customer experience positioned for success: The retail banks that are consistently driving the highest levels of overall satisfaction are those that on a regular basis treat routine customer experiences–such as alerts, funds transfers, fees and face-to-face interactions–as opportunities to reinforce clarity and confidence.