A Note from Chris
It was absolutely wonderful to see so many familiar faces at The Wisconsin Credit Union League's Annual Convention last month, and to have partnered with The League once again in holding our Annual Meetings together. What a fantastic turnout of passionate credit union professionals. We firmly believe that the success of our movement is a collaborative effort. Your unwavering support continues to fuel our motivation and reinforces our belief in the transformative impact we can achieve together. Corporate Central wholeheartedly thanks our members, our volunteers, and The League for working with us to continually find ways to improve peoples’ lives.
With Memorial Day marking the unofficial start of summer, I hope you were able to find a way to honor and remember the brave men and women who have given the highest sacrifice for our freedom. It is a time to reflect on their selflessness, their courage, and their commitment to protecting the values and freedoms we hold dear. May we carry the spirit of Memorial Day with us throughout the year and strive to build a better future – one that upholds the values they fought for and cherishes the freedoms they defended. I sincerely hope that you and your loved ones enjoy a safe and fun-filled summer season.
Sincerely,
Chris Felton
President/CEO
Did You Know?
Beastro offers notification subscriptions.
These notifications make credit union operations more efficient and are a valuable tool for your internal teams. Users may enroll on their own, or supervisors can assign subscriptions to Users.
Subscription notifications are available for a variety of Beastro modules. For example, if your credit union has entered an outgoing wire, and that wire has not been verified prior to the daily cutoff time, a notification will be emailed to Users enrolled in the Member Wire Needs Approval subscription as late as five minutes before the cutoff time. Is a stop payment about to expire on a Corporate Share Draft? The Stop Draft Request Expiring Soon subscription will notify your Users, giving them an opportunity to review the stop payment request.
To enroll in subscriptions on your own:
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Navigate to Manage Your Profile
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Select the toggle for the notifications you would like to receive
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Click Save Changes
For User Administrators to enroll Users in subscriptions:
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Navigate to Member Details
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Select Contacts
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Click the Contact Name
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Expand Subscriptions dropdown
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Select the toggle for the subscriptions that the user should receive
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Click Save Changes
Pro Tip!
Be sure to include direct extensions in your User profiles. If Corporate Central needs to contact one of your team members related to a service (e.g.: outgoing wire that has not been approved prior to cutoff time), having a direct extension listed is a valuable time saver.
New Email Subscription Option
Corporate Central is offering a new Market Update and Securities Offering subscription.*
Corporate Central is excited to introduce a new Market Update and Securities Offering email distribution for members beginning in June. This weekly communication will provide an update on key market rates, as well as provide indicated offering levels for Treasuries, Agencies, Mortgage-Backed Securities, and select other investment types available through Corporate Central’s Broker/Dealer program. It will include robust fundamental analysis as well as total return analytics to assist credit union members in identifying characteristics in the various market sectors that meet their needs. If you would like to receive this weekly analysis, let your Financial Strategist know or click below to subscribe.
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Technology Solutions
Think|Stack welcomes new Vice President, Security and Risk.
Think|Stack is excited to announce the appointment of Jen Anthony as Vice President, Security and Risk. In this role, Anthony will lead Think|Stack’s consulting services which include virtual Chief Information Security Officer (CISO), virtual Chief Information Officer (CIO), and cybersecurity training to improve clients’ security posture among a growing threat landscape. She will oversee the technical teams as they identify, analyze, manage, mitigate, and remediate cybersecurity risk.
Read the Press Release
Employee Benefit Resources
How large credit unions are enhancing employee benefits and lowering costs.
Is your credit union providing industry-leading employee benefit plans that attract and retain your best employees? An innovative employee benefits CUSO was formed by a group of large credit unions to help lower their insurance costs, mitigate the risk of high-cost claims, and enhance their overall employee benefit plans.
Join InterLutions for a complimentary 30-minute webinar to learn how three large credit unions are leveraging data, technology, and collaboration to deliver rich and competitive benefits to their employees.
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Case Study #1: A credit union with 400 employees was facing year-over-year double-digit premium increases. By leveraging I-Care’s enhanced claims data, they lowered their pharmacy utilization expenses by over $430,000 with minimal provider and employee disruption.
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Case Study #2: A credit union with 1,000 employees had outgrown their insurance broker and looked to I-Care to put them on a long-term strategic path focused on employee growth, HR technology, network optimization, and claims analytics. The new and improved strategic path saved the credit union over $900,000 in year one.
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Case Study #3: A credit union with 200 employees was experiencing rising high-cost claims activity and looked to I-Care’s collaborative insurance captive to mitigate their claims risk through proactive health management tools and cost containment measures. Lowering their healthcare claims costs allowed the credit union to reinvest in the well-being of their employees and improve overall productivity.
It’s time to change the trajectory of medical insurance costs and start a new path. Employees are the most important assets of the credit union movement, and they deserve better!
Register Now
Financial Services Consulting
What is the key to success?
There were some interesting twists and turns in the market last month. May began with the widely anticipated 25-basis point tightening by the Fed pushing their target rate to 5.00% - 5.25%. The rate hike was followed by a great deal of market commentary declaring it was likely the last rate hike for the Fed with expectations of a quick pivot and aggressive easing through the second half of the year. At the end of the first week, Fed funds futures were trading at an implied rate of 4.08% in January 2024, implying four Fed 25-basis point eases. For their part, Fed officials continued to state that they have shifted into a data driven policy approach but added they have no plans to bring rates down in 2023. This talk was largely ignored until economic data was released at month end showing elevated inflation levels and resilient consumer spending. Fed funds futures trading began to price in the likelihood of a 25-basis point rate hike by July, the Fed pivot delayed to the end of the year with an implied funds rate of 4.84% in January.
The economic data will be the driving force to carve the Fed’s interest rate path going forward. For credit unions, using their ALM process to understand performance across rate scenarios and managing investment portfolios to stay on target will be the key to success. The Fed currently projects a longer timeline before inflation can be pulled close to the 2.0% target as employment remains strong and consumer spending resilient. Those forecasting a Fed pivot this year with several rounds of rate cuts are expecting the massive tightening the Fed has already conducted to slow the economy, weaken employment, and force the Fed to shift to an accommodative policy. Both sides continue to have compelling arguments magnifying the importance of being prepared for either scenario along with yield curve twists.
QuantyPhi hosted two webinars in May. The first webinar, “How to Build and Manage a Successful Investment Portfolio,” outlined QuantyPhi’s benchmarking process. The second webinar was the second installment of the Investments 101 webinar series and provided an introductory look at agency CMOs. It walked through the original structures of the CMO market, discussed the evolution of cash flow features, and reviewed what to look for in pre-purchase analytics including features of the underlying collateral. Please contact us if you would like access to a webinar recording.
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What's Trending?
ChatGPT’s impact on banking today and in the future.
Chatbots should streamline the member experience: The member has a question, and the chatbot answers it (or directs them to a solution, at least), saving everyone time. However, it’s difficult for credit unions to deploy advanced chatbots like ChatGPT in member-facing settings because the purpose goes beyond talking to the members and understanding what they want. It also needs to perform an action to help solve the problem, which introduces several potential hurdles.
Read the Article
Our Community
Addie’s Angels on Earth donation drive – how you can help.
Every June, Addie’s Angels on Earth holds a donation drive in remembrance of Addison Marie Cate. Addie’s Angels on Earth donates supplies to local hospitals and facilities dealing with infant loss. These supplies are used to provide infant loss boxes and other remembrance items to grieving families who are leaving the hospital with their babies in their hearts, instead of in their arms.
This year will be the sixth annual Addie’s Angels on Earth Donation drive. Nothing can stop the heartache of losing a baby, but we can try to ease their pain and suffering and remind them they are not alone.
Learn How You Can Help
Credit Unions Connect
Stories that exemplify the movement.
Honoring our heroes.
Team members from Connections Credit Union participated in putting up markers for the Idaho Field of Heroes Memorial. The Field of Heroes is a tribute to every service member who has died in Iraq or Afghanistan, and their team was happy to lend a helping hand.
Serving the community.
The Service 1 Federal Credit Union team and their families served free meals at the Hope Kitchen Neosho. They are honored to volunteer in the community on behalf of their members.
Read More Credit Union Stories
What's New and Who's Who?
Corporate Central announced our Board of Directors following our Annual Meeting.
On Thursday, May 11, an Organizational Meeting was held immediately following Corporate Central’s 42nd Annual Meeting. At this meeting, the 2023-2024 Executive Committee was determined as follows:
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Chair, Peter Paulson, Corporate America Family Credit Union
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Vice Chair, Val Mindak, Park City Credit Union
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Secretary, Sue Johnson, Fort Community Credit Union
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Treasurer, Steve Koenen, Altra Federal Credit Union
Learn More About Our Volunteers
*Securities offered through Concourse Financial Group Securities, Inc. (CFGS), Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Concourse Financial Group Advisors, a DBA for CFGS, a Registered Investment Advisor. Corporate Central Credit Union is independent of CFGS.
*Important note: Investment products are not insured by NCUA or any other government agency; are not deposits or obligations of the credit union; are not guaranteed by the credit union; and, may lose value.
*For institutional clients only.