Apple launched a high-yield savings account on Monday in partnership with Goldman Sachs Bank that promises dividends more than 10 times higher than the U.S. national average and it’s giving banks a run for their money.

Depositors in search of higher returns cost three big U.S. financial groups — Charles Schwab, State Street and M&T — more than $60 billion combined in bank deposit flight, Financial Times reported.

But some of the biggest US banks, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Citigroup, announced they had taken in billions of dollars in deposits from customers fleeing smaller lenders following SVB’s collapse.

In an effort to increase its financial services footprint, Apple is competing for customers in an already-crowded banking sector, Nicole Goodkind wrote for CNN.

An interest rate about 415 times higher than the 0.01 percent at Chase and Bank of America could incentivize customers to move money from the big banks into the Apple ecosystem, said Ted Rossman, a senior industry analyst at Bankrate.

To have an Apple savings account, you have to have an Apple credit card called Apple Card. (Sound like an oxymoron? Me too.) And to have an Apple card, you need an iPhone. If you’re managing your credit and your banking with Apple, there’s a much smaller incentive to switch to an Android phone, Rossman said in a CNN interview.

Another advantage for Apple is it could get more financial data on its customers.

“Apple is creating this flywheel effect, an ecosystem of Apple cash,” Rossman said. “It’s very much a loyalty play because it’s a multi-level process … This isn’t typical — if you go with American Express, you can get a credit card without opening a bank account.”

The biggest U.S. banks have refused to raise their savings rates despite the Federal Reserve lifting its benchmark rate to 4.75-to-5 percent to slow inflation. An influx of recent deposits after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and the regional banking crisis means big banks don’t have much incentive to pay higher interest rates to attract more depositors.

After the collapse in March of SVB and two other U.S. lenders, depositors have been moving money out of low-yield bank accounts at the fastest pace since the 2008 financial crisis, Financial Times reported.

They’re choosing alternative products such as money market funds or Treasury bills that pay better returns and take advantage of the Fed’s interest rate increases. The average U.S. bank account savings rate is around 0.37 percent, according to government data, compared to the Fed’s benchmark rate of 4.75-to-5 percent.

The banking crisis did little to derail Q1 earnings at regional and mid-sized banks, Investopedia reported. Banks such as Zions Bancorp, Keycorp, and Fifth Third Bancorp are likely to post historic net interest income growth thanks to the Fed’s interest rate hikes, but the battle to retain deposits could hurt their bottom lines.

These banks and others, including East West Bancorp, Comerica, Inc. and Western Alliance will release quarterly financial results this week, a month after concerns about unrealized balance sheet losses moved financial markets.

Four of the six regional or midsize banks are expected to report double-digit growth in quarterly profits, according to estimates by forecaster Visible Alpha. That growth has been driven by net interest income gains ranging from 11-to-53 percent.

However, net interest income is forecast to slow if the Fed slows or stops interest rate hikes. Banks will simultaneously likely be under more pressure to pay higher rates on the deposits that fund them.

Apple’s savings account is not the best out there. Bankrate ranks it No. 11 on its list of best interest rates. UFB Direct offers a savings account with 5-percent-plus annual percentage yield. Vio Bank and CIT Bank offer 4.77 percent and 4.75 percent, CNN reported.

But “the fact that Apple is involved makes it news,” Rossman said. “High-yield accounts have been available for a while, but this makes them more mainstream. From an industry perspective that’s notable and may incentivize some change.”

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