- Formula
- Total customer deposits (/ users)
- Unit
- $
- Models
- Fintech
| All | SoFi: ~$22B total deposits in under 3 years post-bank-charter | a16z Deposit Beta |
What it is
Deposit balances / per user captures total customer deposits held on-platform, optionally divided by total users to yield a per-user average. The formula is total customer deposits (optionally divided by active users).
How to calculate it
Sum all customer deposit balances at period end. To get a per-user figure, divide by the number of active or account-holding users in the same period.
Why it matters
For neobanks and fintech lenders, deposits are both a funding source and a measure of primary banking relationship depth. A larger per-user deposit balance signals that the customer has shifted meaningful financial activity to the platform — reducing CAC per dollar of funding raised (the 'deposit beta' framing).
Benchmarks & pitfalls
The a16z Deposit Beta framework (2022) uses SoFi as the illustrative comparable: ~$22B in deposits accumulated in under three years after receiving a bank charter, demonstrating that tech distribution can ramp deposit scale quickly. This is a directional data point from a single high-growth outlier, not an industry median. Per-user deposit averages vary enormously by target segment — a high-income borrower product will show very different balances than a mass-market spend account. The 'deposit beta as CAC' lens is a directional heuristic, not a standardized metric.