Our member banks are small located in underserved communities. Due to these circumstances, many CDBA members find their funding options limited, with fewer resources to devote to attracting deposits. The Banking on Communities Initiative is an effort by CDBA to help its member banks raise funds that can be used to lend to quality projects in underserved communities and provide hands-on support to those projects. You can participate in the Banking on Communities Initiative and help underserved communities by placing your deposit with a CDBA member that offers the Insured Cash Sweep®, or ICS®, and CDARS® services. See how a CDBA member bank is using socially responsible, Insured Cash Sweep and CDARS deposits to make a meaningful difference in one local community.

Banking on Communities

To help Community Development Banks (CDBs) raise deposits, CDBA and Intrafi have teamed together through the Banking on Communities Initiative. This initiative helps raise the visibility of CDBs among depositors using Intrafi's ICS and CDARS services. ICS and CDARS enable CDBA banks to attract large deposits by offering access to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance. CDBA banks may then lend these funds into their low- and moderate- income communities.

Since 2004, with the launch of the Banking on Communities Initiative, ICS and CDARS have helped the CDBA raise billions of dollars in deposits. Additionally, as part of this initiative, Intrafi makes a charitable contribution to CDBA based on the success of CDBA member banks in raising CDARS and ICS deposits. These contributions are used to build the capacity of the community development banking sector. 

How does it work?

It’s simple. By placing funds with a CDBA member bank that offers ICS or CDARS, you can put capital into the hands of lenders in communities that need it most and enjoy the benefit of access to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance and returns through a single bank relationship. The CDBA bank can use the full amount of your funds to make loans in the local community—loans for critical efforts, like producing affordable housing, financing small businesses, creating jobs, and expanding neighborhood facilities that provide much-needed services for families with low-incomes.1

When you select ICS and/or CDARS, your cash deposits can work for you and your community. With ICS, your deposit is placed in demand deposit accounts (with the ICS demand option) and/or money market deposit accounts (with the ICS savings option). With CDARS, your deposit is placed in CDs. Want to know more? See more details about how ICS and CDARS work and discover why safety-conscious depositors all types—large corporations, nonprofits, small business owners, public entities, and individuals choose ICS and CDARS.

Interested?

With CDARS, investing in a CD Bank couldn't be easier. When placing a deposit through a CDBA bank using the CDARS service, you work directly with only one bank.

• Your multi-million dollar deposits are eligible for full FDIC insurance.
• You earn one interest rate.
• You receive one account statement.
• Your account information is protected.

Find a CDBA member bank today. To learn more, you can also visit icsandcdars.com or call Intrafi at (703) 292-3400.

1 When deposited funds are exchanged on a dollar-for-dollar basis with other banks in the ICS or CDARS Network, a participating institution can use the full amount of a deposit placed through ICS or CDARS for local lending, satisfying some depositors’ local investment goals or mandates. Alternatively, with a depositor’s consent to certain types of ICS and/or CDARS transactions, the bank may choose to receive fee income instead of deposits from other banks. Under these circumstances, deposited funds would not be available for local lending. Placement of funds through the ICS or CDARS service is subject to the terms, conditions, and disclosures in the service agreements, including the Deposit Placement Agreement (“DPA”). Limits apply and customer eligibility criteria may apply. In the ICS savings option, program withdrawals are limited to six per month. Although funds are placed at destination banks in amounts that do not exceed the FDIC standard maximum deposit insurance amount (“SMDIA”), a depositor’s balances at the relationship institution that places the funds may exceed the SMDIA (e.g., before ICS or CDARS settlement for a deposit or after ICS or CDARS settlement for a withdrawal) or be ineligible for FDIC insurance (if the relationship institution is not a bank). As stated in the DPA, the depositor is responsible for making any necessary arrangements to protect such balances consistent with applicable law. If the depositor is subject to restrictions on placement of its funds, the depositor is responsible for determining whether its use of ICS or CDARS satisfies those restrictions. ICS, Insured Cash Sweep, and CDARS are registered service marks of Promontory Interfinancial Network, LLC.