HSA Day falls on October 15, right in the thick of open enrollment season for most companies. It’s a good time for bankers to revisit their deposit strategies and how they view health savings accounts (HSAs) compared with other revenue sources.
Although HSAs are owned by individuals, employers play a critical role in how accounts are selected, funded, and maintained. For banks, that makes HSAs as much a commercial relationship opportunity as a consumer banking product.
Employees typically fund HSAs through payroll deductions, and their employers already have business banking relationships. That makes HSAs less a benefits product than a deposit product wearing a benefits label. For bankers working to grow stable deposits, it also means a single employer conversation can reach hundreds of employees who might otherwise bank somewhere else.
The money is already moving through business clients
At the end of 2025, Americans held nearly $174 billion in HSAs across 41.7 million accounts, according to Devenir’s year-end market survey. Assets rose 19 percent over the year. Employer-affiliated accounts, which made up 61 percent of those accounts, held about 65 percent of the assets – and Devenir projects the market will top $234 billion by the end of 2028.
But for some banks, market size matters less than how the money arrives. Most HSA contributions come through payroll deduction, so they are scheduled and recurring. They also originate at the same employers that already borrow from the banks and run their operating accounts through them.
Business clients are almost certainly generating HSA deposits right now. The question is whether they stay with your institution or move to a national provider that gains the account, the relationship, and future opportunities that come with it.
One employer relationship, hundreds of account holders
Business banking relationships are narrow by design, reaching the owner, the CFO, and perhaps a controller. By comparison, an HSA program reaches everyone on the payroll, which changes what a single employer relationship can be worth.
A growing share of account holders also treat HSAs as long-term savings rather than a way to cover this year’s copays; not only does that mean account growth and stable balances, it opens the door to additional accounts, loans, and advisory services over time. An employee whose HSA is held at a local bank has a practical reason to consider that bank’s checking accounts, savings products, and mortgage services.
A single employer partnership can lead to dozens or hundreds of consumer relationships, all of them built on products the bank already sells.
If your bank doesn’t offer HSAs, someone else will
HSA assets have been consolidating for years. Devenir’s market concentration analysis found that the five largest providers held 75 percent of HSA assets at midyear 2025, up from 73 percent a year earlier. Devenir’s own index classifies that as minor concentration, but the trend has been consistent, with the top five climbing from 60 percent in mid-2020.
Much of that money starts in local payrolls at companies with local banking relationships, then moves to a custodian headquartered elsewhere. Once an employer selects an HSA administrator, the arrangement tends to stay in place for years, which makes it harder for another provider to win the relationship later.
Every time an employer selects an outside HSA provider, the bank loses more than deposits. It also loses an opportunity to build relationships with employees and their families. Over time, those account holders may open checking accounts, savings accounts, loans, and investment relationships elsewhere, creating a gradual leakage of both deposits and customer relationships.
Community and regional banks are well positioned to keep those deposits in the markets they serve, but only if they are part of the conversation when employers make their choices. That conversation happens during benefits planning, a season most business bankers have traditionally paid little attention to.
Payroll funding makes these deposits unusually stable
Deposit strategy has gotten harder in recent years, with rate-sensitive balances moving quickly and banks paying more to hold money. HSA deposits behave differently. Contributions arrive on a payroll calendar rather than in response to a rate offer, and balances tend to accumulate rather than turn over.
The 2025 figures bear that out. Account holders contributed nearly $60 billion to their HSAs last year and withdrew nearly $45 billion, leaving about $15 billion in net contributions. At year-end, Devenir counted 4.1 million accounts holding at least $10,000, including 1.7 million with balances exceeding $25,000.
HSA account holders have less reason to chase yield, since the tax advantages are what make the account worth having. A competitor advertising a better rate is less likely to pull these balances than it would ordinary savings.
Banks don’t have to build an HSA program alone
Banks often avoid offering HSAs for practical reasons. Custodial administration, compliance, participant support, and benefits technology sit well outside normal banking operations. Payroll integration and employer onboarding have to work together, and benefits buyers expect a type and level of service most banks have never had reason to build.
None of that has to be built in-house. With a white-label comprehensive growth partner like DataPath, the bank brings its brand and the employer relationships it has spent years building, while we provide:
- Technology for account onboarding, contribution processing, payments, and investment access
- Operational support for account setup, servicing, and compliance
- Sales and marketing resources to help the business banking team take the offering to employers
HSA deposits stay on the bank’s balance sheet, and the bank keeps the customer relationships that come with them. DataPath carries the administration and enablement behind it all.
Opportunity is already on your books
Every employer that offers an eligible high deductible health plan is a potential HSA relationship, and each one opens the door to dozens or hundreds of households the bank could otherwise struggle to reach. While that’s true year-round, it’s easier to act while employers are still making benefits decisions.
Those HSA accounts will be opened somewhere. If your bank isn’t involved in the decision, the deposits, account holders, and future banking relationships may end up somewhere else as well. Many of the employers making those decisions are already your clients. October 15 is as good a day as any to ask whether those relationships are strengthening your institution or helping grow someone else’s.
Discover how DataPath’s HSA solution for banks can help you create a new revenue stream and make your financial institution more competitive in the market.
