Simply Grow Profitability

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

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.

With ICS, we compete by having the opportunity to offer a valued product that offers security to our depositors who want to earn interest. A community bank may be well-known in the community but often must compete with the global banks that may have more notoriety and the perception of greater financial strength.

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.

[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’ve been with [IntraFi] for more than 10 years, and it’s been a wonderful relationship. It started with really the need to offer our high-end customers the opportunity to retain insurance for their deposits beyond the traditional FDIC insurance [limit], but we’ve gone way past that. Now, it’s churches, firehouses, school systems, government entities. The product diversification that [IntraFi] offers has really appealed to these other constituencies.

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.

We enjoy being able to replace repos and letters of credit, as well as reducing our need for collateral, with [ICS and CDARS].

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.

Love the availability of the marketing materials [for financial institutions to use for free when marketing to end customers].

[Our state] has 39 municipalities. So right now we have 18 general funds. We got our foot in the door with a lot of these municipalities with [IntraFi] and offering them you know, ICS where it was fully insured and giving them a decent rate. So again, we get our foot in the door and build up that relationship.

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

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.

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.

[IntraFi] wants to serve us. It’s all about the relationship.

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.

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.

I’ve been President & CEO since 1999. I remember going to a meeting and a guy told me that I would be the last president of the Bank of Clarke County because, at some point, the bank would be forced to sell because of all the regulatory pressures and constraints on earnings. And, you couldn’t keep your shareholders happy. In order 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’re able to use [IntraFi] to sort of fill in and sort of level off the gaps there, and it’s been a real big help to us. And it allows us to sort of leverage the assets we have and the capital we have to grow.

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].

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.

I started my career out as a bank examiner with the Federal Reserve. I can’t stress enough the importance of maintaining a strong and robust regulatory compliance infrastructure and overall risk management infrastructure. [IntraFi] being such a significant vendor or partner, really, you know we have to go through a vendor due diligence process on an annual basis. I’ve never had any issue with presenting a dozen, two dozen questions to the folks over at [IntraFi] and getting a very thorough and expeditious response from them. It shows in the culture of [IntraFi] and how they’ve been able to help us deal with our vendor due diligence and compliance issues.

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.

Great partners! Critical to achieving our on-balance-sheet deposit goals.

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.