A Note From Chris
Save the date! We will be hosting the 42nd annual membership meeting of Corporate Central Credit Union at 9:30 a.m. CT on Thursday, May 11 at the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Wisconsin Dells, WI. More information will be forthcoming including how to register a delegate for your credit union. We look forward to seeing you, reconnecting with you, and sharing the successes of our partnership over the past year. We hope you will join us.
Sincerely,
Chris Felton
President/CEO
Did You Know?
Corporate Central’s Digital Marketing Forum is less than a month away.
Corporate Central's Digital Marketing Forum will be held virtually on Wednesday, March 22. The forum will feature session topics including SEO, Google Ads, and social media marketing. After attending this virtual forum, attendees will be able to:
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Distinguish between the three types of search
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Discuss the marketing activities that influence search
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Discover how to optimize content for semantic search
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Consider a variety of ways to build local online presence
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Focus on increasing backlinks to your website
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Build and develop a solid foundation and find ways to grow and connect with your audience on an ongoing basis
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Understand the importance of blogging
Registration is complimentary for credit union professionals.
Register Today
Technology Solutions
Lessons learned from the Southwest holiday failure.
Last month, CU Business News published an article from Think|Stack CEO, Chris Sachse, that highlights lessons to be learned from the Southwest holiday failure.
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Innovative Business Solutions
Your credit union can significantly optimize revenue channels with CU-Save.
CU-Save offers a simple, risk free way to significantly optimize your revenue channels, without using valuable resources. CU-Save helps credit unions maximize their bottom line performance. Our team provides the contract negotiation acumen and benchmark data needed to make decisions that will help maximize your member’s satisfaction. We conduct a complimentary review of your credit union’s vendor contracts to determine if opportunities for efficiency, cost reduction, or revenue enhancement exist. The best part, it truly is risk free. If we are not able to find cost savings, we will let you know your contracts are priced accordingly. Over the past few years alone, CU-Save has delivered nearly $10 million in total reduced operating expenses, averaging $300,000 in cost savings per credit union, which often equates to a meaningful 5% to 20% of savings impact to your operation’s overall expenses.
Getting the best deal from your vendors couldn’t be easier. Simply fill out the form below to start your risk free CU-Save evaluation today!
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Financial Services Consulting
Have you looked at your balance sheet in a non-parallel rate shift to see the effect on your income and risk levels?
The February economic releases were not kind to the market consensus expectation of a quick Fed victory over inflation and pivot to an accommodative policy. The month did start on a positive note as the Fed announced a 25-basis point increase to its fed funds target. The anticipated move represented some relief coming off the heels of four 75-basis point hikes and a 50-basis point increase. Immediately, talk that the Fed was close to ending their aggression and would quickly begin bringing rates back down circulated in the commentary. The fed funds futures market showed a peak rate of 4.92% in the June 2023 contract while the January 2024 contract traded 65-basis points lower at 4.27%.
For the remainder of the month, the economic releases treated the bond market much the same as Rocky treated a slab of meat, delivering body punch after body punch. The barrage started with the employment data coming in sharply higher than expectations as non-farm payroll climbed 517k (forecast +189k) and the unemployment rate fell to 3.4%. CPI followed as January year-over-year came in above forecast at 6.4%. The following day retail sales for January were reported significantly stronger than projections at up 3.0%. One day later, PPI was announced up 6.0% year-over-year versus forecast of 5.4%. The following week, personal spending came in much stronger than forecast at a 1.8% increase in January. The same day, The PCE deflator, the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, was reported up 5.4% (forecast +5.0%) along with an upward revision of 0.3% to the previous release.
The Fed has been expressing concern that the employment strength could continue to fuel wage growth driving inflationary pressures. Consumers have also shown resilience, continuing to spend despite rising prices. The economic numbers this month have reinforced those fears showing inflation continuing to advance, employment remains strong, and consumer spending is still robust. This is certainly not to say the Fed will not succeed in their battle against inflation. It does show that the battle has not been won at this point. They will likely have to push rates higher and hold them longer than anticipated.
The bond market came to this conclusion as yields rose across the yield curve. Treasuries in the two-to-five-year section of the curve climbed 55 to 60-basis points during the month. The ten-year yield rose 40-basis points. Fed fund futures saw the peak extend to the September 2023 contract at 5.39%. The futures contract also signaled a milder Fed pivot as the January 2024 contract traded just 26-basis points lower at 5.13%.
We will continue to put a spotlight on the inverted yield curve. It did not experience any major change as yields climbed during the month. Logic would suggest that we will see some flattening if consensus opinion adapts the expectation that rates will climb higher and stay there longer than previously anticipated. A less inverted yield curve should prove beneficial for new business given our tendencies to lend in the intermediate sector and fund shorter term. For the same reasons, the flattening will likely inflict some pain on current balance sheets.
Have you looked at your balance sheet in a non-parallel rate shift to see the effect on your income and risk levels? The past year has clearly demonstrated that the market does not always move in a parallel rate shift. Knowing the benefit or consequence for your balance sheet if the yield curve changes again could be the key to a successful 2023.
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What’s Trending?
Five fraud threats to watch in 2023.
Future of Fraud Forecast examines common attacks on the rise. Fake texts. Fake jobs. Fraudulent social media accounts. Technology has increased the ways in which fraudsters can attack businesses and consumers.
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Credit Unions Connect
Stories that exemplify the movement
Food for thought.
Team members of Kohler Credit Union volunteered at the Sheboygan County Food Bank for their Food for Thought program. This program provides food for students who lack food security on the weekend. Each week, volunteers from across the county help pack bags of food for distribution to students across the district.
Ensuring quality childcare.
GreenState Credit Union recently pledged $30,000 to Linking Families and Communities, whose goal is to increase the number of childcare spaces in the Fort Dodge community. This will allow more parents and guardians the ability to go to work, while ensuring quality early childcare and education for children.
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What’s New and Who’s Who
Corporate Central welcomes Greg Yoko as Business Development Executive.
Corporate Central is pleased to announce and welcome Greg Yoko as a Business Development Executive. Greg proactively evaluates the financial climate of credit unions, identifies their needs, and positions Corporate Central products and solutions to meet those needs. He advises and schedules training and educational opportunities for member and future member credit unions. He also assists leadership in the development of sales objectives, marketing strategies, and business plans.
Greg brings over 25 years in marketing and business development experience across multiple industries, including technology, publishing, manufacturing, and college and professional sports. He also co-owned a publishing and event management company that served the land development industry. Greg earned his undergraduate degree from Mercyhurst University in Communications/Journalism and a MA in Communication – Message Design from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Welcome to the team, Greg!
Read the Press Release