What others are saying
Testimonials
What’s happening in the industry today can have an impact on your business tomorrow. We’re here to provide the information you need and the insights you want from people you can trust. Come back often as we update frequently.
What Bankers Say
We enjoy being able to replace repos and letters of credit, as well as reducing our need for collateral, with [ICS and CDARS].
[Section 202 of S. 2155] gives Empire State Bank a powerful new tool to compete with the largest institutions for the deposits generated by small professional offices. It provides a way for Empire State Bank to attract new, valuable customers - customers that not only have sizeable deposits, but who can act as a referral source to other customers for our lending and other services. It also gives the bank a tool for managing liquidity.
The people are great! So patient and helpful.
We’ve been with [IntraFi] for more than 10 years, and it’s been a wonderful relationship. It started with really the need to offer our high-end customers the opportunity to retain insurance for their deposits beyond the traditional FDIC insurance [limit], but we’ve gone way past that. Now, it’s churches, firehouses, school systems, government entities. The product diversification that [IntraFi] offers has really appealed to these other constituencies.
Offering CDARS has been instrumental in helping us fulfill our mission of building the economic health of the underserved communities in the Washington, DC area. We have been able to address the investment policy constraints of many of our socially motivated investors - not-for-profits, foundations, and public agencies - by offering access to multi-million-dollar levels of FDIC insurance coverage so critical to these depositors. In turn, we are able to put these large-dollar deposits to work in the communities that need it the most.
With the help of [IntraFi] and access they provide to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance, we’ve been able to build loyal, large-dollar relationships.
Delivers a great product with absolutely phenomenal client experience. A true partner.
Unlike its competitors, [IntraFi] doesn’t compete with us for our customers. We own our customer relationships. We set our rates. [IntraFi] crafts its services from a banker’s perspective. Head to toe, [IntraFi] is all about community banks. The company’s services level the playing field, helping us to better compete with much larger players.
[Pricing] is something that doesn’t get spoken a great deal about when we’re looking at [utilizing reciprocal deposits like IntraFi Cash Sweep] or the CDARS services. You’re pricing these deposits and trying to win over these larger clients, but it’s on your terms rather than a wholesaler that says, ‘Well, this is the price for today - the all-in cost.’
With reciprocal deposits, we can confidently accept large deposits from our customers.
We signed up for ICS for three key reasons. First and foremost, it fills a need of our customers by providing them with flexible funds that are eligible for FDIC insurance. Second, it lets us keep those funds on our balance sheet, which gives us the dollars to lend into our communities. Finally, we have been long-time users of other [aspects of the product]. We and our customers have come to trust the quality and professionalism of [IntraFi].
In stark contrast to listing service deposits, reciprocal deposits help a bank build franchise value. Quite simply, reciprocal deposits tend to be large, lower-cost, in-market deposits and, as such, offer greater potential for opportunity and efficiency. For this reason, many banks are replacing at least a portion of their listing service deposits with reciprocal deposits.
To price efficiently and profitably, a banker must compare risk- and cost-adjusted retail products to wholesale alternatives, and choose funding alternatives with lowest marginal cost. ICS is a valuable tool that bankers can use to help meet their needs.
IntraFi can be so helpful to banks in terms of their liability management. It can help them attract and maintain their deposits, typically from their local customers, and it can help them earn fee income in addition. I think one of the great things about it is [that] it helps community banks, particularly, compete with the largest banks for deposits and compete with money market mutual funds. And so this is something that's so important to community banks in terms of having the money they need to lend in their communities.
By utilizing the CDARS and ICS services, Community Development Bankers Association (CDBA) member banks have successfully gathered deposits to help underserved communities. These services help the banks to offer their customers access to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance.
The flexibility of IntraFi’s variable priced funding options for 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months was huge for the bank.
With ICS, we compete by having the opportunity to offer a valued product that offers security to our depositors who want to earn interest. A community bank may be well-known in the community but often must compete with the global banks that may have more notoriety and the perception of greater financial strength.
With great success, we are selling ICS to our large-deposit clients as a retention vehicle, as well as using ICS to lower cost of funds and attract new deposit business.
What Depositors Say
I was looking for a flexible investment vehicle that I could use for a special need we had. With ICS and CDARS, I found safety, flexibility, and yield - all in one place!
As a CEO, you don’t ever think of your bank account as not being secure, but that crisis changed my view. Going forward, I would never consider putting my money in a bank that doesn’t offer ICS.
ICS came in and its been amazing. And we’re getting more money out of the sweep than money markets originally. Sweep makes so much sense. We cut checks once a week. We don't have to think about it [managing the process]. It has helped to solidify our relationship with our bank. Also I have been with lots of banks here [at my chosen local bank] I can get someone on the phone at any time. Don’t have to have to talk to 18 different people. I can get one person. And when I get someone on the phone, they're there.
I have found participation in the CDARS [service] to be simple and a time saver. We earn very competitive interest rates on our investments while freeing up staff time. We were in the CDARS [service] during our last audit and passed with flying colors!
Tell me a reason not to be doing this(reciprocal deposits)? There isn’t one.
The tool(reciprocal deposits) provides a very healthy balance for the safety, liquidity, and yield.
This product offers us both the liquidity and safety that we are looking for and allows us to capitalize on the cash needs of our growing, evolving company, especially through our relationship with [our bank].
Upon joining the county treasurer’s office, I was intrigued to learn that a portion of the county’s funds were placed through CDARS. I quickly appreciated the security and ease of placing large deposits through a single bank while keeping the money FDIC insured, and have since added the ICS serivce as well. CDARS and ICS free up the capital of smaller banks to finance community growth while still allowing them to accept our larger deposits. We can support the prosperity of the community while investing the taxpayers’ money competitively and safety through a community bank. A winning combination.
When we looked at this product (ICS & CDARS), we said yes, absolutely, this is something we need to jump on. It was a no brainer.
If I am going to take money from investors, it would be a fiduciary lapse not to use these products (ICS & CDARS)
We face the important, but cumbersome task of making certain that our deposits are eligible for protection. To do so, we required our bank to pledge millions of dollars of collateral. It was our responsibility to track the changing values of that collateral every day. Now, thanks to [our bank], we discovered ICS. By placing our funds through ICS, our funds are eligible for FDIC protection beyond $250,000 and earn interest - both of which really benefit us and local taxpayers. The best part is that Capitol Bank can use our deposits to fund local lending and economic growth. And the recurring burden of tracking collateral values is gone. The service is truly a benefit for us.
I will never again bank with a bank that is not part of the IntraFi network.
[My boss] has an ‘on top of it’ philosophy. [ICS] gives us a single statement and we know we’re protected, and where the money has been transferred to. The service was made for someone like him.
We need things as simple as simple can be. That’s how we started with [ICS and CDARS]. Been with them since 2008.
There is just no downside. This is one of those few products (ICS & CDARS) that work as advertised and there are no gotchas.
With ICS, our town can access multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance protection, as well as earn interest. Plus, our bank can make these funds available for investment within the local community.
The IntraFi product protects our funds, earns a competitive rate, and does not cost us the significant time and effort required if we were to do this ourselves.
We were mainly interested in ICS for the security." “You know, one less thing to worry about. But the time savings have been huge, too. For many companies, this would probably be the main selling point—most people think they need relationships with ten other banks to get insurance coverage. They don’t.”
