Union Bank won the deposit race in the first quarter.

The San Francisco bank increased its federally insured deposit dollars in the first quarter of 2013 more than any of the nation’s 20 biggest banks by assets. Union’s deposits grew  8.2%, or $2.3 billion, over last quarter, according to FDIC data reviewed by Bank Innovation. Wells Fargo & Co., owner of the nation’s largest branch network, grew its deposits by 7.4%, adding $35.9 billion of deposits, the greatest growth in dollar value, over the same period.

Meanwhile, Capital One Financial Corp. shed 10.5% of its  deposit dollars over last quarter, a loss of $15.8 billion, the greatest drop in both percentage and absolute dollars among the 20 largest banks. Last quarter, the McLean, Va.-based bank saw huge growth numbers as its acquisition of ING Direct made its way into the FDIC’s data.

Average growth in deposit dollars quarter over quarter for the 20 largest consumer banks was 3.1%. The number of accounts remained steady on average over last quarter, with the 20 largest banks averaging a decline of 0.1%.

Wells Fargo gained the most accounts over last quarter with +5.9 million, or 6.1%. BB&T gained 6.2% in accounts, or 458,000. Citibank dropped 6 million accounts, 12.6% over the previous quarter, followed by Capital One, which lost 12.4%, representing 2 million accounts.

Year Over Year
In year-over-year growth of dollars on deposit, Union Bank again led the way with 28.3% or $6.7 billion on the back of some acquisitions, followed by Ally, which grew 13.2%, which amounts to $4.8 billion. Wells Fargo again grew the most in absolute deposit dollars over last year, $44.2 billion, 9.3% of overall growth in its total FDIC-insured deposits.

Union Bank grew the fastest by number of accounts: +9.5% or 222,000.

Average growth in deposit dollars year over year among the nation’s largest banks was 4.8%. On average, the 20 biggest banks dropped 1.1% of accounts over the same period.

HSBC suffered the most substantial decline in dollars on deposit year-over-year, dropping 25.9%, or $13.5 billion. HSBC has been hemorrhaging depositors and deposit dollars over the past year. The bank lost 38.6% of its depositors, some 1.2 million customers, over last year.

Rank in QOQ Gains in Retail Deposits at the Top 20 Banks ($-figures in 1,000s)

Rank in YOY Gains in Retail Deposits at the Top 20 Banks ($-figures in 1,000s)