One view is that these amenities are simply a separable flow of services to depositors, conceptually analogous to interest income. However, an interesting alternative is that they represent a deliberate effort to build loyalty – that is, to create a form of switching costs.
To the extent that other elements of their business model are also devoted to creating and exploiting deposit stickiness, it may make more sense for banks to make complementary investments of this sort in enhancing customer loyalty.