What others are saying
Testimonials
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What Bankers Say
A valuable partnership means helping each other succeed, and IntraFi allows us to do so. Their reciprocal offering enables us to provide our customers access to millions in FDIC insurance while growing our deposit base. We are proud to provide a solution for our customers and bank with IntraFi’s services.
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.
One of the most powerful aspects of our relationship with [IntraFi] is our ability to attract depositors who believe what we believe - believe that placing capital in an institution that is focused on making a difference in the community is a worthwhile practice. But they want to do so with a fair rate, without additional risk. [IntraFi] has provided, if you will, a wonderful tool for us to fund the expansion of the bank. As we grow the scale of the bank, what we do is grow our capability, our capacity, to be able to lend back into the community. And that’s what it’s really all about, so that we can lend back into the community and really make a difference with these underlying businesses.
Reciprocal deposits help us better manage our balance sheet. We can more easily determine what to do with excess liquidity and easily follow through on those decisions which lowers our cost of funds and increases our profitability. Most importantly, reciprocal deposits give us another way to further our support for our communities.
Since the ICS was introduced more than a decade ago, we have been recommending that all banks include this innovative product in their funding toolbox…it has been a game-changer for so many of our clients.
Community banking is still vibrant, and it’s made more vibrant because of the tools we have at our disposal, such as those provided by IntraFi.
ACT is really an expansion of the funding pool and of the relationships that drive success at MDIs and CDFIs. It's a long-term play, not a short-term gap-filler,
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.
As other institutions started to become more aggressive in raising deposit rates, ICS and CDARS made it easy to accommodate rate-sensitive customers on a case-by-case basis without cannibalizing our other deposits.
CDARS is the perfect match for us and our public fund customers. It can eliminate the need for deposit collateralization, which frees up our time, frees up their time, and reduces everyone’s administrative tracking costs. It also allows our previously restricted funds to work harder and for their funds to be channeled back into the local community. We all win.
Our public funds customers appreciate knowing that when they place their funds through ICS, those funds are eligible for FDIC protection beyond $250,000 and earn interest. That benefits them, as well as local taxpayers, as our bank can make those funds available for investment within the community.
Because we are a member of the [IntraFi] network, we have an opportunity to generate fee income on deposits we are not using for lending when loan demand is slack.
[IntraFi] wants to serve us. It’s all about the relationship.
Administratively, IntraFi made it really easy for us. The whole process was so quick and seamless. And every time I call IntraFi, whoever I speak with is terrific.
The flexibility of IntraFi’s variable priced funding options for 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months was huge for the bank.
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.
IntraFi is a different kind of fintech. IntraFi partners with banks and provides solutions for banks. In fact, it weaves the nation's banking industry together in order to provide increased deposit insurance coverage and this ability to gain wholesale deposits. And so [IntraFi is] certainly not a competitor with banks.
[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.’
What Depositors Say
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].
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!
I like that I can log in [to the ICS Depositor Control Panel] and see where funds are and can show a client to explain how more than $250K is insured. It’s nice to pull up a website and show them where their money is, even if in 25 different banks overnight.
The previous Treasurer kept all the money in local government pools, and then had pledged securities as collateral. All of the money was not local. They didn't have any local banks. So what I did when I came in as treasurer was analyze those accounts and move a large portion of our money to local community banks. [Our city] is the state capital, but it is a very small town so to speak. Now, having that money in municipal local banks was important for me because then the local banks can then lend that money out to local businesses. I worked for 25 years in banking and understand that concept, so it was important to me that the municipality helped support the local financial institutions. Without IntraFi that would not have been possible.
. . . You know, we've gotten a little bit more sophisticated since I've come. They used to make about 50 to 100 grand a year in interest. Last year, or this year ending June 30, we probably will make almost half a million [while protecting our investment with FDIC insurance].
If I am going to take money from investors, it would be a fiduciary lapse not to use these products (ICS & CDARS)
There is just no downside. This is one of those few products (ICS & CDARS) that work as advertised and there are no gotchas.
