ics & cdars

Flexibility to diversify deposits

With ICS^®, the IntraFi Cash Service^®, and CDARS^®, financial institutions can offer safety-conscious customers access to millions in aggregate FDIC insurance across network banks. Customer funds are placed into demand deposit accounts and money market deposit accounts with ICS and in CDs with CDARS.

find a Bank

A list identifying IntraFi network banks can be found here. IntraFi is not an FDIC-insured bank, and deposit insurance covers the failure of an insured bank. Certain conditions must be satisfied for “pass-through” FDIC deposit insurance coverage to apply.

How ICS and CDARS Work

When a financial institution places large customer deposits in ICS or CDARS, that deposit is divided into amounts under the standard FDIC insurance maximum of $250,000 and is placed in deposit accounts at banks that participate in the network.

Customer places $1M with a financial institution that offers IntraFi services

A depositor can work directly with just one institution to place its funds while accessing FDIC insurance through multiple banks

Funds are placed into demand deposit accounts and money market deposit accounts with ICS and in CDs with CDARS

Why do investors and bank customers choose ICS & CDARS?

Simple and streamlined, the services are chosen by businesses, nonprofits, and governmental organizations (e.g., cities and counties, public schools, police and fire districts), as well as fiduciaries, advisors, socially responsible investors, and individuals.

Peace of Mind

Through economic ups and downs and bank failures, no depositor has ever lost a penny of their funds placed using ICS and CDARS.

Flexibility

Multiple liquidity options provide control. Enjoy daily liquidity for funds placed through ICS into demand deposit accounts and money market deposit accounts. CDARS offers a range of maturities between 4 weeks and 3 years.

Favorable Returns

Risk-averse depositors do not have to sacrifice safety for returns. ICS and CDARS offer returns that compare to those earned from Treasuries and government money market mutual funds.

Time Savings & Transparent Reporting

Forego the need to manage multiple bank relationships. Know where your funds are at all times with an online dashboard and detailed reporting provided by your local bank relationship.

Reduced Collateralization Burden

Save time by eliminating the need to track changing collateral values on an ongoing basis or having to footnote uninsured deposits in financial statements.

Community Support

The full amount of your funds placed through IntraFi's services can stay local to support lending opportunities that build a stronger community.

Questions? See our Frequently Asked Questions.

Dare to Compare

See how the services stack up to collateralized deposits, letters of credit, private insurance, short-term bond funds, money market mutual fund sweeps, and other cash investment alternatives.

How ICS & CDARS from IntraFi^® compare to other cash management alternatives.

Product

Problem

Solution

Checking accounts

May or may not earn interest, and funds are insured only up to $250,000 per insured capacity, per bank

You can have it all with ICS & CDARS — enjoy access to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance at network banks through a single bank relationship

Treasuries

Backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government, but might earn a lower yield while featuring a similar risk profile

Repurchase sweeps

May earn interest, but the yield can be very low; there may be administrative tracking obligations, and the funds are not FDIC insured

Collateralized deposits

Administrative tracking problems can be more onerous than with repo sweeps, and only certain types of deposits can be collateralized

Money market mutual funds

Earn interest, but the yield may be very low; the investment is not backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government, and some funds are subject to floating net asset values, liquidity fees, and money market mutual funds redemption gates

Find an institution

Win-Win

Good for depositors. Good for financial institutions.

A depositor can work directly with just one institution to place its funds while accessing FDIC insurance through multiple banks.

The reciprocal deposits feature enables network banks to exchange their own customers' large deposits for a matching amount of deposits from other member banks in insurable increments (<$250K).

Banks can attract and retain large, safety-conscious customers, with or without keeping deposits on balance sheet.

Network members appreciate that they can buy deposits placed in ICS and CDARS from network members that are flush with cash. This allows them to diversify their balance sheet with funding that counts as deposits, not borrowings.

Fintechs can place customer funds in insured deposit accounts through a seamless integration with one or more participants in its bank network.

Brokerage firms and wealth managers can offer ICS and CDARS to help their clients keep funds safe while consolidating accounts from outside savings, investment accounts, and CDs, including those held in online banks.

Chosen by

3K+

Financial Services Organizations

Our reciprocal solutions help keep locally sourced deposits in local institutions, which in turn helps drive economic growth in communities throughout the U.S., including some of the most underserved locales.

[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.

Business Manager

Insurance Company

Our public funds customers appreciate knowing that when they place their funds through ICS, those funds are eligible for FDIC protection beyond $250,000 and earn interest. That benefits them, as well as local taxpayers, as our bank can make those funds available for investment within the community.

Mario Martinez

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Catskill Hudson Bank, NY

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!

Al Braithwaite

City Manager

Oldsmar, FL

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.

Operations Director

Land Conservancy

We need things as simple as simple can be. That’s how we started with [ICS and CDARS]. Been with them since 2008.

Finance Manager

Large Trucking Company

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].

Jessica Ray

Controller

Pramand

There is just no downside. This is one of those few products (ICS & CDARS) that work as advertised and there are no gotchas.

Russell Franks

Co-founder and president

PredictAP

I love it [ICS]. It tells me where our money is. We keep a minimum $150k in checking. After $200K, it moves the cash around seamlessly. I could not be happier with how the sweep works. Keeps us liquid and protected, and interest bearing, the best of both worlds. And the [ICS and CDARS] statements - reconciling is so easy QuickBooks syncs with our bank, so it shows up in QuickBooks and clearly shows interest earned and posts.

Accounting Manager

Prep School

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.

President

Wine and Spirit Importer

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.

Vice President

Religious-Based Fund

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.

Russell L. Reinert

Chief Financial Officer

Central Bank and Trust Co., KS

IntraFi Insights

Get in Touch

A list identifying IntraFi network banks can be found at www.IntraFi.com/network-banks.

Deposit placement through an IntraFi service is subject to the terms, conditions, and disclosures in applicable agreements. Deposits that are placed through an IntraFi service at FDIC-insured banks in IntraFi’s network are eligible for FDIC deposit insurance coverage at the network banks. The depositor may exclude banks from eligibility to receive its funds. To meet the conditions for pass-through FDIC deposit insurance, deposit accounts at FDIC-insured banks in IntraFi’s network that hold deposits placed using an IntraFi service are titled, and deposit account records are maintained, in accordance with FDIC regulations for pass-through coverage. Although deposits are placed in increments that do not exceed the FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount (“SMDIA”) at any one bank, a depositor’s balances at the institution that places deposits may exceed the SMDIA before settlement for deposits or after settlement for withdrawals or be uninsured (if the placing institution is not an insured bank). The depositor must make any necessary arrangements to protect such balances consistent with applicable law and must determine whether placement through an IntraFi service satisfies any restrictions on its deposits.