Research terminalQ2 2026 · 4,313 institutions · refreshed 8/27/2026 · catalog mismatch
Q2 2026 · 4,313 institutions · refreshed 8/27/2026

Free calculator · bank treasury, CFO, ALCO

Deposit pricing decision: Defend, Match, or Lead

Price holding, matching, or beating the market rate on a bank's deposits: annual cost, balances at risk, breakeven retention, and sensitivity. No account or key needed. Every number is labelled filed, derived, or assumed.

Example

STIFEL BANK&TRUST holds $16.47B of savings deposits (money market and other savings) at a current cost of 1.74%, against a market rate of 0.63% (FDIC reference). Defend, Match, and Lead cost the same on these assumptions, because the bank already pays at or above the market rate. Balances at risk: Defend $0k, Match $0k, Lead $0k. Inputs: Deposit category to price: Savings deposits (money market and other savings); Market rate to match: source-derived; Lead premium over the market: 25; Share of the category you would reprice: 100; Runoff when you pay the market rate: 5; Extra runoff per 100bp below the market: 10; Replacement funding spread over Fed funds: 25.

Deposit pricing decision: Defend, Match, or Lead

Price holding, matching, or beating the market rate on a bank's deposits: annual cost, balances at risk, breakeven retention, and sensitivity.

STIFEL BANK&TRUST · FDIC #57311Example bank. Search above to use yours.

Which filed deposit category the pricing decision applies to. Balances and current cost come from the bank's Call Report.
The rate competitors pay for this product. Leave empty to use the FDIC national average for the product as a reference; that average is usually well below competitive offers, so enter your own market rate when you have one.
How far above the market rate the Lead option prices, in basis points. A starting value to replace with your own.
The part of the category balance whose rate changes under Match or Lead. For time deposits, use the share maturing soon (see the maturity wall calculator).
The share of the repriced balances that leaves within a year even when your rate matches the market. Your assumption, not a filed figure; a starting value to replace.
The additional share of balances lost for every 100 basis points your rate sits below the market, and recovered for every 100bp above it. This is the elasticity assumption that drives the decision; the sensitivity table shows how the answer changes with it.
What it costs, above the Fed funds rate, to replace balances that leave, in basis points.

STIFEL BANK&TRUST holds $16.47B of savings deposits (money market and other savings) at a current cost of 1.74%, against a market rate of 0.63% (FDIC reference). Defend, Match, and Lead cost the same on these assumptions, because the bank already pays at or above the market rate. Balances at risk: Defend $0k, Match $0k, Lead $0k.

Savings deposits (money market and other savings), period-end balance
$16.47BFiled
Balance repriced in this decision
$16.47BDerived
Current cost of the category · Schedule RI interest over Schedule RC-K average balance, latest quarter annualized
1.74%Derived
Market rate used · Reference only: FDIC national money market and savings rates, weighted by this bank's filed money market and other-savings balances
0.63%Assumed
Lead premium over the market
+25.0 bpAssumed
Runoff when paying the market rate
5.00%Assumed
Extra runoff per 100bp below the market
10.00%Assumed
Replacement funding rate · Fed funds plus the spread you set
3.88%Assumed
Defend rate
1.74%Derived
Defend: balance at risk
$0kDerived
Defend: annual funding cost
$285.7MDerived
Match rate
1.74%Derived
Match: balance at risk
$0kDerived
Match: annual funding cost
$285.7MDerived
Lead rate
1.74%Derived
Lead: balance at risk
$0kDerived
Lead: annual funding cost
$285.7MDerived
Match versus Defend, annual cost
$0kDerived
Lead versus Defend, annual cost
$0kDerived
Cheapest option
Defend, Match, Lead tieDerived
Match: share of balances retained on your assumptions
100.00%Assumed
Lead: share of balances retained on your assumptions
100.00%Assumed
Match: retention needed to cost the same as Defend · No retention level can pay for this option
n/aDerived
Lead: retention needed to cost the same as Defend · No retention level can pay for this option
n/aDerived
Match beats Defend once extra runoff per 100bp below the market exceeds · No sensitivity up to 100% per 100bp changes the ranking
n/aDerived
Lead beats Defend once extra runoff per 100bp below the market exceeds · No sensitivity up to 100% per 100bp changes the ranking
n/aDerived
Defend, Match, and Lead ranked by annual cost on the repriced balance (lowest first; equal costs share a rank)
RankOptionRate paidBalances leavingBalance at riskAnnual funding costVersus cheapest
1Defend (hold today's rate)1.74%0.00%$0k$285.7M$0k
1Match (meet the market rate)1.74%0.00%$0k$285.7M$0k
1Lead (price above the market)1.74%0.00%$0k$285.7M$0k
How the ranking changes with each assumption (annual cost on the repriced balance)
Assumption changedCheapest optionDefend costMatch costLead cost
As enteredDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Runoff sensitivity halvedDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Runoff sensitivity doubledDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Market rate 50bp lowerDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Market rate 50bp higherDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Replacement funding 50bp cheaperDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Replacement funding 50bp costlierDefend, Match, Lead (tie)$285.7M$285.7M$285.7M
Deposit book by category (filed balances and current cost)
CategoryPeriod-end balanceShare of domestic depositsCurrent annualized cost
Noninterest-bearing demand deposits$884.7M5.05%n/a
Interest-bearing transaction accounts$176.0M1.00%0.86%
Savings deposits (money market and other savings)$16.47B93.95%1.74%
Time deposits of $250,000 or less$0k0.00%n/a
Time deposits of more than $250,000$0k0.00%n/a
Reference rates (labelled references, not forecasts)
ReferenceRate
FDIC national interest checking (2026-09)0.07%
FDIC national savings (2026-09)0.37%
FDIC national money market (2026-09)0.63%
FDIC national 12-month CD (2026-09)1.73%
Fed funds rate (replacement funding base)3.63%
Download CSVView JSON

Filed: Reported directly in the bank's FFIEC Call Report. Derived: Calculated by OptimaYield from filed figures using the method described below. Assumed: An assumption you entered or a scenario input, not a reported figure.

This is a scenario built from the assumptions above, not a recommendation, price target, or regulatory conclusion.

How it is calculated

Balances are period-end Schedule RC-E balances for the category: interest-bearing transaction accounts (total transaction accounts minus demand deposits), savings (money market deposit accounts plus other savings), and time deposits split at $250,000. The current cost of the category is Schedule RI interest for the latest quarter annualized over the Schedule RC-K average balance for the same category; where the prior quarter is not on file it is year-to-date income annualized, and the result says which.

Three options are priced on the balance you choose to reprice. Defend keeps today's rate. Match pays the market rate. Lead pays the market rate plus your premium. An option is never priced below today's cost, so a bank already paying above the market reference has nothing to match.

Balances that leave are your assumption: a baseline share leaves even at the market rate, and an extra share leaves for each 100bp your rate trails the market (or stays for each 100bp you pay above it, never below zero runoff). Balances that leave are replaced at the Fed funds rate plus your spread.

Annual cost of an option = retained balances × the option's rate + balances that leave × the replacement rate. The cheapest option wins; equal costs are reported as a tie. Breakeven retention is the share of balances a repriced option must keep to cost the same as Defend; a value above 100% means no retention level can pay for the higher rate. The switch point is the runoff sensitivity above which Match or Lead beats Defend.

No behavior or market rate is assumed on your behalf: the market rate is either yours or a labelled FDIC national average, and every runoff input is a labelled assumption shown with its value.

What it does not do

  • Runoff and its sensitivity to rate are assumptions. Filings do not report how balances move when a bank changes its rate, and behavior differs sharply between retail, commercial, brokered, and rate-chasing balances.
  • The FDIC national averages are across all banks and are usually well below competitive offers; they are references, not forecasts of what you must pay. Savings blends two FDIC series by the bank's filed mix.
  • Cost is a portfolio average for the category, not the rate on any one account. Promotional versus relationship rates, tiers, and balances that price differently are not separated in Call Reports.
  • The comparison is a 12-month static view: it ignores new-deposit growth from a higher rate, cross-sell value, deposit mix shifts between categories, and any change in your competitors' response.
  • Replacement funding is a single rate (Fed funds plus your spread); real alternatives such as FHLB advances or brokered deposits differ by term, collateral, and availability.
  • A decision-support estimate, not a pricing recommendation or a net interest income forecast.

Sources

Reviewed 2026-09-30 · definition version 1

Questions and answers

What do Defend, Match, and Lead mean?

Defend keeps your current rate and accepts the runoff that follows. Match raises the rate to the market rate. Lead prices a premium above the market to keep or win balances. The calculator prices all three on the same balance and ranks them by annual cost.

What is breakeven retention?

It is the share of balances a higher-rate option must keep to cost the same as Defend, given your replacement funding cost. If your expected retention is above the breakeven, the higher rate pays for itself; if the breakeven is above 100%, it cannot.

Where do the balances and current cost come from?

Balances are the bank's period-end deposit categories in Schedule RC-E of its Call Report. Current cost is Schedule RI interest expense annualized over Schedule RC-K average balances for the same category. Both are filed data.

Why is runoff an input instead of a result?

No public filing reports how balances respond to a rate change, so inventing a behavior would be false precision. You set the assumption, and the sensitivity table shows where the decision flips.

Why does the tool use FDIC national rates?

They are the only free, public, regularly updated deposit rate averages by product. They are a labelled reference when you have not entered your own market rate.

Use it from code or an AI assistant

The same calculation is available as a free JSON and CSV API, an OpenAPI description, and a remote MCP server, so analysts, scripts, and AI assistants get identical numbers.

curl "https://www.optimayield.com/api/tools/deposit-pricing-decision/run?certificate=57311"