AMP Bank's decision to bin a swathe of fees on transaction and deposit accounts could be the first move in a renewed strategy to hasten growth of the retail funding base of the company.While the bank's chief executive Sally Bruce was yesterday selling the fee abolition program as a way to simplify the transaction experience of customers, the decision also reflects the impact of AMP's declining superannuation business on the bank.According to the latest APRA statistics, AMP Bank's total deposit base rose by only A$79 million in the 12 months to the end of August, an increase of less than one per cent.The modest expansion in the overall deposit base occurred despite a creditable 16 per cent increase in deposits drawn from household customers. All up, households boosted the AMP banking vault by $400 million in the last year.However, since September 2017 AMP Bank has lost deposits sourced through other entities in the AMP group, such as the superannuation and wealth management arms.These deposits are material for the bank and amounted to almost $2.3 billion at the end of August in 2017.According to APRA's latest statistical bulletin, AMP Bank held deposits worth only $1.88 billion on behalf of the same sources at the end August this year.Whatever the reasons for the deposits outflow, the trend has sharpened Bruce's focus on growing AMP Bank's share of the household deposits market.If AMP's wealth management business continues to slide, the bank's overall deposit base is likely to be part of the collateral damage.The diminution of these 'soft' deposits originated from within the AMP Group might be a blessing in disguise for the bank.Since its launch two decades ago, AMP Bank has not been able to match the retail deposit success of market peers such as ING, ME Bank and Rabobank.ME, which has also been active in the domestic banking market for around twenty years, today commands almost three times the household deposits of AMP Bank.Among the keys to ME's success have been its relatively simple features and pricing structures.AMP Bank's approach to product design now seems to be converging with the simple banking model of ME."We're continually looking at ways to improve our offering for our customers and to make things simpler for them," said Bruce."These changes are an important first step in simplifying our products and fees and giving our customers even more reason to be with AMP Bank."Bruce flagged more changes to the design of deposit and mortgage products in the next six months.AMP Bank said that some customers would be migrated to new accounts to facilitate the fee removals."Customers in legacy transaction accounts are being moved to contemporary products with the same or in many cases better features," the bank said."This will happen automatically from early December"