Tracing the Impact of Payment Convenience on Deposits: Evidence from Depositor Activeness
Working Paper 35638
DOI 10.3386/w35638
Issue Date
How slow are bank transfers, and how do transfer delays affect deposit demand? Using transaction-level data from millions of depositors, we measure transfer delays by matching debits and credits across accounts held by the same depositor. Shorter delays correlate with more transfers and lower balances. Exploiting county-level exposure to Zelle’s staggered rollout, we find that faster payments reduce delays and deposit growth. Calibrating a deposit-management model, we find that transfer delays raise deposit demand, and the magnitude of this effect varies with interest rates and consumption volatility. Payment frictions therefore shape transactional deposit demand and monetary transmission.
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Copy CitationXu Lu, Yang Song, and Yao Zeng, "Tracing the Impact of Payment Convenience on Deposits: Evidence from Depositor Activeness," NBER Working Paper 35638 (2026), https://doi.org/10.3386/w35638.Download Citation
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