What others are saying
Testimonials
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What Bankers Say
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].
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.
[IntraFi] wants to serve us. It’s all about the relationship.
The flexibility of IntraFi’s variable priced funding options for 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months was huge for the bank.
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.
IntraFi offers a diversified set of tools that can benefit community banks in any environment they encounter
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.
We enjoy being able to replace repos and letters of credit, as well as reducing our need for collateral, with [ICS and CDARS].
I have seen nothing but forward thinking and innovation recently at [IntraFi], and I love it! There is beauty in simplicity, and [IntraFi] offers this along with bells and whistles when we need them.
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.
Reciprocal deposits absolutely give us a competitive edge, It levels the playing field by helping us attract and keep large deposits.”
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.
[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.’
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.
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.
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.
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.
We were one of the first banks to join the [IntraFi] network. We realized that CDARS was a game changer - one that would give banks like ours not just competitive equality with large financial companies, but a real competitive advantage in attracting local customers.
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.
