SystemRisk Management & ALM

Deposit Pricing

Deposit pricing that answers every rate exception while the member waits, priced against other funding and decided by someone who did not ask

Every rate exception answered while the member waits, priced against other funding.

See one case, screen by screen ↓
demo23secondsfrom the branch's one-line request to a cited counteroffer from six agents, on the sample request
demo$245a yearwhat the 4.45% counteroffer costs over same-term FHLB funding, shown before anyone approves
target2hoursor less to answer a member at the branch, on a clock with escalation
target100%of exceptions priced against same-term funding and approved by someone other than the requester
In short

What is Deposit Pricing?

Deposit pricing is how a bank or credit union sets the rates it pays on certificates, money market and savings accounts: the board rate sheet, and the exception pricing approved when a customer or member asks for more. Deposit Pricing gives treasury and retail leaders rate recommendations and a governed way to approve exceptions: six agents answer each request with a cited counteroffer, and a named approver who did not ask decides.

AI use cases in banking: a buyer's guide to agentic AI for bank and credit union operations →

Updated

The problem

Why deposit pricing exceptions cost more than they should

Deposit pricing has two halves: the board rate sheet the Rate Committee sets each week, and the exception pricing approved when a member brings a better offer. Today an exception arrives by phone or email. The pricing desk looks up the member in the core banking system, finds the latest rate survey and last week's FHLB sheet, often in three windows and a spreadsheet, and answers while the member waits at the branch, or after the member has left with the money.

The risk is in how the answer is reached. Exceptions are priced against the board rate, not against what the same money would cost from the FHLB or the brokered market. Two members with the same balance, term and offer can get different answers from different branches, which is what examiners ask about under UDAAP. The branch keys the override into the core and prints the certificate disclosure from a template, so what the member signs can differ from what was approved, and once a month someone rebuilds the exception count for ALCO from inboxes.

typical30,000pricesdistinct deposit prices managed at the average bank
estimated$2Ma yearfor 5 basis points of better pricing on $4 billion of deposits
Where a rate exception's working minutes goestimated
By hand90 minutes
With the solution13 minutes
  • Reaching the pricing desk by phone or email20 → 1 min
  • Looking up the member in the core banking system10 → 1 min
  • Finding the rate survey and the FHLB sheet10 → 1 min
  • Checking the offer and how like members were treated15 → 3 min
  • Finding who may approve, and reaching them20 → 4 min
  • Keying the override and preparing the disclosure15 → 3 min

Estimated split of the working time on one certificate exception, by phone and email today and in the thread with the solution. On the sample request the decision came 29 minutes after the branch asked.

How it works

How one rate exception is decided

Six agents answer each request with a cited counteroffer; a named approver decides, and the requester never can.

What comes in
Request in6 systems · branch, offer, core, FHLB, ALM, rates
Agents at work
Offer agentlike for like?
Relationship agentcore, 14 fields
Then
Funding agentsame-term cost
Retention agentchance it stays
Then
Policy agentauthority matrix
Consistency agentlike members
Then
Disclosure agentTruth in Savings
A person decides
Deposit Pricing Manager decidesapprove, counter or decline, with a reason; above authority, the Rate Committee
What comes out
Counteroffer
Disclosure
ALCO report
One case, step by step

Deposit pricing for one member, from request to signed disclosure

Thursday, October 22, 2026, at the Harbor Point branch of Norrell Federal Credit Union, a sample $6.8 billion credit union with 38 branches. A member's $350,000 certificate matures on Saturday and an online bank has offered more. Here is how the deposit pricing decision is made, screen by screen, in the working solution.

  1. 019:52 AM

    A rate request becomes a thread

    Dana Whitfield · Branch Manager, Harbor Point

    Ellen Marchetti, a member for 17 years, sits at Dana's desk with a written offer of 4.60% APY for 12 months. Dana writes one sentence and attaches the letter. Twenty-three seconds later six agents have replied with a counteroffer of 4.45%, one plain line each with a source, and the request waits on Marisol Ortega with a 2-hour clock.

    “Member asks 4.60% on a $350,000 12-month certificate to match an offer.”

  2. 02The relationship

    Only what pricing needs from the core

    Relationship agent

    The agent reads 14 of 212 member fields from the core banking system: $1,200,000 in deposits across six accounts, a $410,000 mortgage, 17 years of membership, and earlier exceptions of +20 bp in October 2024 and +25 bp in October 2025. Tax ID, date of birth, address, transactions, credit score and income are never read for pricing, and every view is logged.

    Access log: Dana Whitfield 9:50 AM, Relationship agent 9:52 AM, Marisol Ortega 10:16 AM.

  3. 03Other money

    Priced against FHLB and brokered funding of the same term

    Funding agent

    For 12 months the cheapest other money is a 4.38% FHLB advance, from the 8:00 AM rate sheet; brokered certificates cost 4.52%. The 4.45% counteroffer costs $1,050 a year over the 4.15% board rate and $245 a year more than borrowing from the FHLB; the 4.60% ask would cost $770 more. Borrowing would also take $15,750 of FHLB activity stock.

    Rates read today only, each with the time it was read.

  4. 04The chance it stays

    84% at the counteroffer, with its band

    Retention agent

    Model RET-3.2 puts the chance the $350,000 stays at 84% at 4.45% (78–90%), 91% at the 4.60% ask and 31% at the board rate. Its back-test is on the same screen: in Q3 2026 it predicted 79% and 81% stayed, across 1,180 certificates. It never uses age, sex, race or national origin, marital status, ZIP code or branch location.

    The agent recommends only when the band is ±10 points or narrower.

  5. 0510:16 AM

    How members in like circumstances were treated

    Marisol Ortega · Deposit Pricing Manager

    Marisol opens the Consistency agent's comparison: 46 like requests in 90 days, 43 approved at +20 to +40 bp, with a median of +30 bp, the same as the counteroffer. The 4.60% ask, at +45 bp, is above all 43 approvals. No branch differs from the median by more than 5 bp, and phone, branch and online requests are approved at the same median.

    Compared on product, amount, term and offer only. An outlier is flagged, never blocked.

  6. 06Before deciding

    A rate dial that recalculates everything

    Marisol Ortega · Deposit Pricing Manager

    Set to the full 4.60% ask, the dial shows what it would mean: $1,575 a year over the board rate, $770 against FHLB funding, a 91% chance the money stays (±6 points), and a Rate Committee decision. The rate ladder moves with the dial, and a counter at another rate carries a reason code and an override code.

    “+45 bp is above your +40 bp authority. Counter lets you send it to the Rate Committee as an urgent e-vote.”

  7. 0710:21 AM

    Approved with a reason code, by someone who did not ask

    Marisol Ortega · Deposit Pricing Manager

    Marisol approves 4.45% as checker with reason code PX-02, “Matches a verified written offer, within the like-circumstances range”, and a note. The dialog names who requested the exception, who approves it and what happens next: the disclosure is generated from these terms and the core books the rate under this approval. Dana requested it, so Dana never could.

    “Verified written offer at 4.60%; counter at the like-circumstances median.”

  8. 0810:21 to 10:27 AM

    Disclosed, accepted and booked in the same thread

    Dana Whitfield and the core banking system

    The Disclosure agent posts TIS-26-10418: 4.45% APY, dividend rate 4.36%, maturing October 24, 2027, 9 of 9 required items checked. At 10:26 Dana writes that Ellen accepted; at 10:27 the core banking system renews certificate ··7741-C03 at 4.45% under approval A-26-10418. Marisol's waiting list drops from 7 to 6.

    “Member accepted 4.45%. She is signing the disclosure now.”

  9. 09Signed

    The Truth in Savings disclosure equals the approval

    Disclosure agent

    Generated only after approval and only from the approved terms: dividend rate 4.36%, APY 4.45%, compounded and credited monthly, a 180-day early withdrawal penalty and automatic renewal with a 10-day grace period. Before release the agent checks each item 12 CFR 707.4(b) lists, that the terms equal the approval, and recomputes the APY. Dana delivered it at 10:24 and Ellen e-signed at 10:26.

    Kept seven years, at least two under 12 CFR 707.9(c).

  10. 10On the record

    Who, what, when, why, on which evidence

    The audit trail

    The trail for REQ-26-10418 holds 10 entries, from Dana opening the request at 9:52:08 AM, through each agent's reason and evidence, to Marisol's approval and the core booking. One export pack serves NCUA examiners, internal audit, the Supervisory Committee or ALCO, with member numbers masked.

Who it’s for

Built for everyone who prices a deposit.

The same rate exception, seen by the people who ask for it, decide it, fund it and audit it: what their day looked like, and what it looks like now.

MO
Marisol OrtegaDeposit Pricing Manager · approves to +40 bp
Deposit Pricing Manager
Before
Decides about 35 exceptions a day above branch authority from calls and email, with the core, a rate survey and the FHLB sheet open side by side.
Now
Opens a thread the agents have already priced against funding, retention and like members; approves, counters or declines with a reason code.
DW
Dana WhitfieldBranch Manager, Harbor Point · approves staff requests to +15 bp
Branch Manager
Before
Phones the pricing desk with the member in front of her: “I need an answer, not a ticket number.”
Now
Writes one sentence, attaches the offer, and sees the answer, the disclosure and the booking in the same thread. She can never approve her own request.
GP
Gavin PruittVP Treasury & ALM · Rate Committee
Rate Committee member
Before
“Never pay more for a deposit than I'd pay the FHLB, unless the relationship earns it.” Today exceptions are priced against the board rate.
Now
Sees every exception priced against same-term FHLB and brokered money, and votes on what is above authority and on board-rate proposals.
TL
Theresa LindqvistChief Financial Officer · chairs ALCO
Chief Financial Officer
Before
“I want one page for ALCO: how many, what it cost, what we kept.” Today the count is rebuilt from inboxes.
Now
Signs a one-page exception report the Reporting agent drafted and Marisol reviewed, and checks every board-rate and matrix change as the second person.
RA
Ruth AbernathyInternal Auditor · reports to the Supervisory Committee
Internal Auditor
Before
Pieces together who approved what and why from email and core override reports; there is no single record.
Now
Reads every action by people and agents with its reason and evidence, read-only, and exports a masked pack in one step.
Built on the engine

8 agents. Each with one job, and hard limits.

Six agents answer each request with a cited counteroffer; a named approver decides, and the requester never can.

Offer agent

Reads the competing offer a member brings (letter, screenshot or rate sheet) and checks it is like for like: rate, APY, term, minimum, new-money rule, penalty and expiry.

  • Never names the other institution on a view the member sees
  • Marks an offer it cannot read as unverified
Relationship agent

Reads the member's deposits, loans, tenure and products from the core banking system, only the 14 fields pricing needs.

  • Reads the pricing view only
  • A restricted account shows “restricted”, never why
  • Stops and says so when the core does not answer
Funding agent

Compares the requested rate with other funding of the same term: FHLB advances, brokered certificates and the ALM model's marginal cost.

  • Uses rates read today only
  • States the time of every rate it uses
Retention agent

Estimates the chance the money stays at each rate, with a confidence band and the model version, and is back-tested against what happened each quarter.

  • No age, sex, race, national origin, marital status or ZIP code as inputs
  • No recommendation when the band is wider than ±10 points
Policy agent

Applies the pricing authority matrix by product, amount and spread, and routes the request to the right approver; the requester is never an approver.

  • Cannot approve
  • Cannot change the matrix
Consistency agent

Shows how members in like circumstances were treated in the last 90 days and flags an ask above the 90th percentile before anyone approves.

  • Compares on product, amount, term and offer only
  • Flags; never blocks
Disclosure agent

Generates the Truth in Savings disclosure for an approved certificate from the approved terms, checks every required item and recomputes the APY.

  • Generates only after approval
  • The terms must equal the approval exactly
Reporting agent

Drafts the monthly exception report for ALCO from the decision log, the general ledger and the ALM model, and turns exception patterns into board-rate signals.

  • Drafts only; the CFO signs
  • Cites every figure
Deposit Pricing Manager

Approves within authority, never their own request. The agents propose; a named person decides.

Ask in plain words

Ask about any request, member or rate

Ask in plain words about a request, a member, a rate or a decision. Every answer cites its source and opens the right screen.

Why 4.45% and not the 4.60% she asked for?

4.45% keeps most of the chance and stays in your authority. At 4.60% the chance the $350,000 stays is 91%; at 4.45% it is 84%. The extra 15 bp would cost $525 a year for 7 points of retention, and +45 bp needs the Rate Committee. FHLB funding of the same 12 months costs 4.38%, so 4.45% costs $245 a year more than borrowing it.

How have we treated members like Ellen?

In the last 90 days, 46 members asked for an exception on a 12-month certificate of $250,000 to $500,000 with a written outside offer. 43 were approved, at +20 to +40 bp; the median was +30 bp, the same as the counteroffer. No branch differs from the median by more than 5 bp.

Draft the October exception summary for ALCO

Drafted from October 1 to 21: 2,046 requests, 67% decided at the branch within authority, 589 by Deposit Pricing, 86 by the Rate Committee. 96.8% met their SLA. It is in the ALCO report for your review; Theresa Lindqvist signs it.

Which branches ask above their authority most?

Harbor Point: 214 requests in September, up 38% on August; 61 of them cite the same online offer at 4.60%. Then Lakeview (166) and Cedar Falls (151).

Every screen

The working solution, as it ships.

13 screens from the working solution, on its sample data. Pick one to see it large.

The counteroffer threadA branch manager's one-line rate request opens as a thread; six agents reply with a counteroffer of 4.45%, each line with its source, beside a rate ladder and who decides. The approver approves, counters or declines with a reason.
The rate dialCounter at any rate between the board rate and the ask: cost over the board rate, cost against same-term funding, the chance the money stays and who may approve are recalculated before anyone commits.
The member's relationshipDeposits, loans, tenure and earlier exceptions from the core banking system: 14 of 212 fields, with the fields never read for pricing and the access log.
Same-term fundingBoard, FHLB advance and brokered rates from 3 to 60 months, read today, and what the counteroffer and the ask cost against them in plain words.
Retention at each rateThe chance the money stays from the board rate to the ask, with its ±6-point band, the quarterly back-test and the documentation for model RET-3.2.
Members in like circumstancesApproved spreads for 46 like requests in 90 days, the counteroffer at the +30 bp median, the ask above every approval, and checks by branch and channel.
Approve with a reason codeThe approver signs as checker with reason code PX-02 and a note; the dialog names the requester, who cannot approve, and what happens next.
Approved, disclosed, bookedAfter the approval the thread carries the disclosure, the member's acceptance at the branch and the core booking under approval A-26-10418.
Truth in Savings disclosureThe certificate disclosure generated from the approved terms, with 9 of 9 required items checked, the APY recomputed and delivery and e-signature tracked.
Board rate proposalThe deposit rate sheet for 140 rate products with this month's exceptions by product, and a board-rate proposal for the Rate Committee to vote on and the CFO to check.
Exception report for ALCOOne page for ALCO: requests, average approved spread, cost over board rates and money kept against forecast, drafted by the agents, reviewed and signed by the CFO.
Audit trail and exportEvery action by people and agents with its reason and evidence, and a masked export pack for NCUA examiners, internal audit, the Supervisory Committee or ALCO.
Authority matrixWho may approve how far over the board rate, by product and amount; a pending change waits for the CFO as checker, and its proposer cannot check it.
Governance

Deposit pricing built for the examiner: cited, signed, on the record.

Every number cites its sourceEach line of the counteroffer opens the passage it came from, with the time it was read: the core banking system, the FHLB rate sheet, model RET-3.2, the authority matrix, the decision log.
The requester never approvesThe authority matrix routes each exception by product, amount and spread. The person who asked cannot approve, an officer never approves an account they hold an interest in, and above authority the request goes to the Rate Committee, never around it.
A maker and a checker on every rate changeBoard rates: the Deposit Pricing Manager proposes, the Rate Committee votes 3 of 5 and the CFO checks. Matrix changes: the administrator proposes and only the CFO checks. Whoever proposes a change cannot check it.
Reason codes and human overrideEvery approval, counter and decline carries a reason code, and an override code when the approver differs from the agents. Agents, prompts and models are versioned and tested on a golden set of 240 past decisions before a change goes live.
Only what pricing needsPricing reads 14 of 212 member fields. A restricted account reads only “restricted”, no investigation status appears on any pricing or branch view, and the other institution's name is removed from every record the member or branch sees.
On the record for examinersWho, what, when, why and on which evidence, for people and agents. One masked export pack for NCUA examiners, internal audit, the Supervisory Committee or ALCO. Decisions are kept 7 years; disclosures 7 years, at least 2 under 12 CFR 707.9(c).
Configuration

Your pricing policy, not ours

The authority matrix, clocks, thresholds and codes are settings. Each is versioned, on the audit trail, and changed by a maker and a checker.

SettingDefaultChoose from
Deposit Pricing Manager approves certificates up to+40 bp up to $1,000,000; +25 bp overSet by product, amount and spread in the authority matrix (v14); a change is proposed and the CFO checks it
Branch manager approves staff requests up to+15 bp on certificates; +10 bp on money marketPending change MC-26-07: +20 bp on 3- and 6-month certificates, waiting for the CFO
Clock for a member at the branch2 hoursPhone and online chat 4 hours · Rate Committee e-vote 2 hours, 2 votes
Reminder and escalationReminder at 60 minutes left; escalation at 30Escalation to the backup approver and the VP Treasury & ALM; over the clock, the VP Retail Delivery
Retention recommendationOnly when the band is ±10 points or narrowerWider than that, the agents show the numbers and recommend nothing
Like-circumstances flagAbove the 90th percentile of like decisionsFlags and never blocks; compared on product, amount, term and offer only
Reason codesPX for approve or counter, DX for decline, OV for overrideOne required on every decision; an override code when the approver differs from the agents
Record retentionDecisions 7 years; disclosures 7 yearsAt least 2 years for disclosures under 12 CFR 707.9(c); deletion only by a logged job at the end of retention
Connections

Works with the systems your pricing desk already uses

Core banking systemreads the 14-field pricing view; writes the approved rate with its approval number
Rate feedsFHLB advance rates each morning, brokered indications and the weekly rate survey
ALM model and general ledgermarginal cost of funds, and dividend expense for the ALCO report
Deposit pricing tablesboard rates for 140 rate products, updated after the CFO checks
Disclosure generation and e-signatureTruth in Savings disclosures from approved terms, signed by the member
Branch platformrequests in from 38 branches and the contact center; answers and disclosures out
What it changes

The difference, in numbers.

Every figure is labelled: a target the solution is built to, an estimate, a typical published result, or a proven one.

target
2hours
or less to answer a member at the branch, on a clock with escalation
estimated
$2Ma year
for 5 basis points of better pricing on $4 billion of deposits
target
Everyexception
priced against same-term funding and approved by someone other than the requester
Every exception
cited, reasoned, signed

“demo” = seen in the working solution, on its sample data · “target” = the design goal, measured in the live solution · “estimated” = our estimate ($4 billion × 0.05% for the pricing value; the minutes split) · “typical” = published figures (American Banker, December 2013, quoting a deposit pricing vendor: the average bank manages about 30,000 distinct deposit prices). Rules named on this page: Truth in Savings, 12 CFR Part 707; Regulation DD, 12 CFR Part 1030; the CFPB UDAAP examination procedures; GLBA. Norrell Federal Credit Union, its people, members, branches and accounts named on this page are fictional: characters and sample data in the working solution.

Questions

What deposit pricing teams ask us.

What is deposit pricing?

Deposit pricing is how a bank or credit union sets the rates it pays on certificates, money market and savings accounts: the board rate sheet, and the exception pricing approved when a customer or member asks for more. Deposit Pricing gives treasury and retail leaders rate recommendations and a governed way to approve exceptions: six agents answer each request with a cited counteroffer, and a named approver who did not ask decides.

How does it handle a CD rate exception at the branch?

The branch manager writes one sentence and attaches the member's offer. Six agents reply in the thread with the member's relationship, whether the offer is like for like, the cost against same-term funding, the chance the money stays, how like members were treated and who may approve. The approver approves, counters with the rate dial or declines with a reason, inside a 2-hour clock for a member at the branch.

How is a rate exception priced against FHLB funding?

The Funding agent compares the requested rate with an FHLB advance and brokered certificates of the same term, read that day, and the ALM model's marginal cost. On the sample request, a 4.45% counteroffer costs $245 a year more than a 4.38% FHLB advance on $350,000, and the 4.60% ask $770 more.

Does it treat members in like circumstances alike?

The Consistency agent shows how like requests were decided in the last 90 days, compared on product, amount, term and offer only, and flags an ask above the 90th percentile before anyone approves. It flags and never blocks: the approver decides, and the flag stays on the record.

Does it generate the Truth in Savings disclosure?

Yes, only after approval and only from the approved terms. The Disclosure agent checks each item 12 CFR 707.4(b) lists, that the terms equal the approval, and recomputes the APY; the branch delivers it and the member e-signs. The sample institution is a credit union; at banks the same disclosures fall under Regulation DD.

Can exception pricing inform our deposit pricing strategy and board rate sheet?

Yes. The agents read each month's exceptions by product against same-term funding and retention and draft a board-rate proposal, with its estimated effect, which the Deposit Pricing Manager proposes, the Rate Committee votes on and the CFO checks. The same log feeds a one-page exception report for ALCO.

Do people stay in control of rate decisions?

Yes. The agents price, cite and recommend; they never approve, change the authority matrix or write to the core without an approval number. A named approver decides within the matrix, the requester never can, and above authority the Rate Committee votes.

How long does it take to go live?

The Agentic Solution Engine builds and deploys it from your requirements and documents, such as your deposit pricing policy, authority matrix, board rate sheets and a sample of past exception requests, and it goes live once every quality gate has passed. We will walk you through it on your own exceptions first.

See it on
your rate exceptions.

We'll run Deposit Pricing on a sample of your own past rate exception requests and board rate sheets.