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
The ACT Deposit Program created a secure and efficient way for community development banks to attract and retain large institutional deposits.
Customer support is awesome. They are knowledgeable and great communicators.
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.
Calumet Bank joined [IntraFi] so we could provide [two depositors] access to full federal deposit insurance coverage through reciprocal deposits. We learned that reciprocal deposits were a way to meet the needs of these two depositors, and we reasoned that they could also be used to attract new depositors who wanted [access to] full [multi-million-dollar] federal deposit insurance coverage.
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.
Through products like CDARS and ICS, community development banks attract deposits at four times the level of other community banks. That translates into loans to small businesses, loans for mortgages and home improvement, loans for revitalization projects - loans that otherwise would not be made.
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.
Without reciprocal deposits we couldn’t do what we do in this community
We received a ton of deposits during [a specific time], and IntraFi’s services were important in helping us manage our balance sheet and capital position through that growth
IntraFi has provided a wonderful tool for us to fund the expansion of the bank
I would highly recommend IntraFi to other banks. They've been such an incredible resource to us, both in good times and in bad, helping us with resources to help our customers. I also love the fact that I can be completely honest with them and transparent about our business situation. They're not competing with me. They're there to help me keep my customers, rather than to take them away.
IntraFi’s customer service is top-notch—they’re proactive, they anticipate our needs, and they do the extra leg-work to make things as seamless for us as possible. I’ve never worked with a more supportive team, much less had a negative experience.
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.
Every dollar that you put into our bank through ICS or CDARS (IntraFi’s brand names for reciprocal deposits) comes right back here, and we can then lend it back out to help keep the local economy vibrant.
Reciprocal deposits are popular because they tend to be associated with multi-million-dollar depositors, enabling banks to attract deposits in large chunks with lower acquisition and maintenance costs as costs tend to be spread over much larger deposit amounts. Moreover, they tend to come from local customers at rates that are more in line with local pricing norms. They also tend to come from customers who are more likely to be interested in a broader, more long-term relationship that may include mortgages, credit cards, and other profit-generating services.
CDARS is a relationship-driven service that opens up the door where you’ve never gone before. Period.
The service is impeccable.
[IntraFi] gives us a lot of advantages that some of the largest institutions may have today so that we can provide some of our more sophisticated borrowers with the products and services that they really want.
What Depositors Say
Great partners! Critical to achieving our on-balance-sheet deposit goals.
The tool(reciprocal deposits) provides a very healthy balance for the safety, liquidity, and yield.
If I am going to take money from investors, it would be a fiduciary lapse not to use these products (ICS & CDARS)
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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!
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.
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.
Tell me a reason not to be doing this(reciprocal deposits)? There isn’t one.
[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.
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.
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 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.
An important motivator in our using a single bank is that the business is a cash business, and every day we must make trips to the bank, as the company collects money from customers on a daily basis. Many still pay in checks. Having one bank to work with [using ICS and CDARS] makes it much easier.
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.
