A certificate of deposit (CD) that is tailor-made to accommodate the varying needs of engaged depositors. Thanks to the non-standard features of these CDs, depositors expect extra benefits from them including better rates (annual percentage rates– APRs), more flexibility, ability to cope with market changes, and so on.

Examples of designer CDs include asset-linked CDs, jumbo CDs, zero-coupon CDs, bitter-end CDs, variable rate CDs, tiered CDs, relationship CDs, anytime CDs, tax deferral CDs, no-penalty CDs, bump-up CDs, step-up CDs, etc.

Designer CDs are also known as exotic CDs as opposed to vanilla CDs.