Growth through Innovation

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.

Half of our members rely on [IntraFi’s] services to attract deposits so they can make loans supporting community development in some of the most underserved urban neighborhoods and rural communities in the country. On average, the community development banks attract reciprocal 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.

Outstanding record of being responsive and engaged.

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.

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.

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.’

CDARS is a relationship-driven service that opens up the door where you’ve never gone before. Period.

Professional staff goes out of their way to be helpful on service introduction and usage.

There is a cyclical nature, obviously, about our industry that stems from varying economic conditions and really competitive trends that occur in our marketplace. So our goal is to create a tool box full of tools that we can utilize in any cycle to ensure balance sheet stability. That allows us to minimize the risk inherent in our balance sheet. If we are in a period of time where we are in a fight – a battle for deposits, we have a tool that we can utilize to allow us to be competitive at a level way beyond the size and scope of our balance sheet, yet still be protected. If we are flush with deposits, we have a tool for that as well.

Training our associates is the key to our success. Once our team rallied behind this service, deposit growth just took off. Not long after we launched this product, we had several million in CDARS deposits; in just a few months it had doubled, and in a few more months it had tripled. It grew with relative ease.

In 2008, we were very tight on managing our collateral for public funds. Local municipalities were able to provide larger amounts of deposits but required protection. Prior to [IntraFi’s] products, we had hard thresholds and a difficult time retaining and originating these relationships. As we continue to see growth of our balance sheet, [IntraFi’s] products will be important to taking care of certain customers. I think our success allows us to serve that mission better.

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.

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].