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
I also love the resources IntraFi provides for there to be peer-to-peer discussions... Peer Intelligence was such a blessing a couple of years ago when that was launched, where I could post questions without disclosing the bank that I was at and ask critical questions, whether it was regarding products and services … or leadership issues.
[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.
I was told awhile ago that I’d be the last president here - that the bank would have to sell due to regulatory pressures and constraints on earnings. To survive, we needed to grow. In a perfect world, you use core deposits; but core deposits and the loan demand sometimes don’t flow at the same time. So we use [IntraFi] to fill in the gaps. It allows us to leverage the capital we have to grow.
The ACT Deposit Program offers a streamlined approach for providing essential deposits to our member banks serving their communities. This initiative empowers our members to facilitate homeownership, business growth, and financial stability, contributing to job creation and the overall vitality of communities across America.
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.
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.
The most important factor in a turnaround is to ensure your capital is adequate….One-Way Sell allowed us to move deposits off our balance sheet to shrink the asset size of the bank and help our capital ratio.
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] has been a big partner with us in order to fund growth.
The service is impeccable.
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.
We enjoy being able to replace repos and letters of credit, as well as reducing our need for collateral, with [ICS and CDARS].
Delivers a great product with absolutely phenomenal client experience. A true partner.
[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.
We love that [IntraFi] gives us options. We can either attract deposits through and sell the excess to other banks through or purchase funding. This is especially helpful in today’s regulatory environment.
The flexibility of IntraFi’s variable priced funding options for 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months was huge for the bank.
The resources and the individuals and the integrity of the organization are above reproach. There’s never been a question that’s gone unanswered. Whenever we've had challenging times as an organization, they’ve been by our side.
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.
What Depositors Say
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.
If I am going to take money from investors, it would be a fiduciary lapse not to use these products (ICS & CDARS)
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].
Our school system has utilized the CDARS service for years and is very pleased about the addition of the ICS service. With CDARS, we have access to FDIC insurance on our funds that are invested for a longer timeframe while meeting our investment policy mandates and earning CD-level returns. With ICS, we can protect and invest our funds on a shorter-term basis while earning a return. CDARS and ICS combined provide us with an efficient cash management solution.
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!
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.
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.
I will never again bank with a bank that is not part of the IntraFi network.
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’m comfortable we are protected [with ICS and CDARS]. The money was sitting in a non-interest account. Watching interest come in was lovely. And we need to have access to cash quickly. Some restricted, some operational, some for purchase of land we account for that separately in house but it’s all lumped into one account for interest purposes.
We need things as simple as simple can be. That’s how we started with [ICS and CDARS]. Been with them since 2008.
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.
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.
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.
. . . 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].
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 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.
