The Era of Easy Deposits Is Over for Main Street Banks

The smaller banks that serve a wide swath of America’s consumers and businesses are starting to pay up to keep their deposits.

Main Street banks such as Citizens Financial Group Inc. and First Horizon Corp. said in recent first-quarter earnings reports they are having a tougher time hanging onto customer money in a world where the Federal Reserve has aggressively raised interest rates. To keep those depositors around, some lenders are paying more on savings accounts and turning to products like certificates of deposit.