With the CDARS^® service, you can access multi-million-dollar FDIC protection by working directly with WSB & BSB.

CDARS is one of the safest, smartest vehicles for investors looking to protect their large-dollar deposits while earning CD-level returns. CDs placed through CDARS offer:

• access to multi-million-dollar FDIC insurance;
• the ease of working through one trusted relationship, earning one rate per maturity, and receiving consolidated statements;
• relief from ongoing collateralization—because CDARS deposits are eligible for FDIC protection, you can eliminate ongoing collateral tracking;
• a finite maturity date (in contrast to auction-rate or some adjustable-rate securities); and
• the ability to have the amount of your deposit available to support lending initiatives that strengthen the local community.¹

The standard FDIC insurance maximum is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category. To protect a larger deposit, you could run around to multiple institutions to deposit your funds, or you could require a bank to collateralize your deposit and track changing collateral values on an ongoing basis. Alternatively, you can have us place your large-dollar deposit using CDARS. Your deposit is divided into smaller amounts and placed with other institutions that use CDARS, each an FDIC-insured institution. Then, those member institutions issue CDs in amounts under $250,000, so that your deposit is eligible for FDIC insurance at each member bank. By working directly with us, you can access coverage from many institutions while receiving one monthly statement summarizing your CDARS deposit.

Funds placed through CDARS are deposited only into FDIC-insured banks. We act as custodian for your CDARS deposits, and the subcustodian for CDARS deposits is the Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon).

Unique to CDARS, you as a depositor can obtain a confirmation of records maintained by BNY Mellon as subcustodian to reconcile those records with the statements received from us. At any time, as often as desired, you as a depositor can obtain a certified statement from BNY Mellon that confirms the exact amount of your CDs, including principal balance and accrued interest, for each FDIC-insured institution that issues a CD through CDARS. 

You can submit a request for the certified statement, along with BNY Mellon’s processing fee, through us. BNY Mellon will send the certified statement directly to you or to another party designated by you, such as an auditor.

• When we exchange deposits with other institutions that use CDARS on a dollar-for-dollar basis, the same amount of funds placed through the network returns to us. As a result, the total amount of your original deposit can remain with our bank and be used for local lending. (CDARS Reciprocal transactions only.)¹

You work directly with just us—the bank you know and trust. As always, your confidential information remains protected.

Most of the banks that have failed in the United States in recent years did not use CDARS or did not hold any CDARS deposits when they failed. When a CDARS institution has failed, the bank’s CDs issued using CDARS in most cases have been transferred to a healthy institution—the FDIC’s preferred method for handling bank failures. In cases where the FDIC has been unable to find a healthy institution willing to accept such a transfer, it has arranged for the payment of the insured principal and accrued interest to the depositors. This payment has usually occurred within a matter of days.