What others are saying
Testimonials
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What Bankers Say
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.
The people are great! So patient and helpful.
I have worked with [IntraFi] since 2009, and I have been continually impressed by the way they continue to seek out innovation with not only the financial institutions in mind, but also the customer experience. Staff [is] typically top notch and extraordinarily responsive.
[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.
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.
CDARS is a relationship-driven service that opens up the door where you’ve never gone before. Period.
It’s fair to say that [IntraFi’s] deposit placement services provide a lifeline to minority-owned banks by enabling our members to attract large deposits from civic-minded and socially motivated investors and to put those deposits to work in communities we serve.
Investors used to ask for our financial statements, loan portfolios, delinquency rates, and so on. Now, the first thing they mention when they come into our bank is CDARS or ICS. They know the services, and they want the insurance access. As far as our customers are concerned, it’s a no-brainer.
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,
Outstanding record of being responsive and engaged.
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.
Delivers a great product with absolutely phenomenal client experience. A true partner.
Best quality, in my eyes, is their responsiveness. Excellent customer service.
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.
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.
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.
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
What Depositors Say
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.
I will never again bank with a bank that is not part of the IntraFi network.
We need things as simple as simple can be. That’s how we started with [ICS and CDARS]. Been with them since 2008.
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.
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!
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!
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.
There is just no downside. This is one of those few products (ICS & CDARS) that work as advertised and there are no gotchas.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.”
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].
The tool(reciprocal deposits) provides a very healthy balance for the safety, liquidity, and yield.
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.
