PLANO, Texas– As 2020 gets underway, Catalyst Corporate FCU said credit unions may benefit from a bit of 20/20 hindsight. To that end, Catalyst Corporate said its financial experts as well as those with Catalyst Strategic Solutions have taken time to look back at the past year—and the actions of the Fed at their December Open Market Committee meeting—to help credit unions “position themselves better for the coming year.”
The result is a 23-minute, on-demand video that touches on interest rates, lending, liquidity and balance sheet risk geared to help credit union make decisions about tomorrow, Catalyst Corporate said.
The video, titled Insights & Outlooks, features Mark DeBree, managing principal of Catalyst Strategic Solutions; Casey Peterson, senior advisor at Catalyst Strategic Solutions, and Sarina Freedland, Senior Investment Officer at Catalyst Corporate FCU. Steven Houle, vice president of Catalyst Strategic Solutions’ Advisory Service, moderated the panel discussion.
“There is the potential for interest rates to fall further, maybe not in 2020, but certainly further down the road. And I think that the falling rate environment outweighs the potential of a rising rate environment,” House said. “For the credit unions I’m talking to, its more about needing to prepare to insulate against the risk of rates possibly going down.”
Added Freedland, “It’s time for credit unions to put on insurance. There’s a lot more risk of rates staying where they are or going lower. So in that case, we’re saying, ‘add some duration.’”
The experts also spent some time covering topics such as the yield curve, member behavior and mortgage loans.
“One of the things we’ve seen in the last six months is the pick-up in real estate volume and refinances,” Houle said. “Clearly there is going to be demand from members with falling rate.”
To stream the 23-minute video, click here or visit the Learning Center tab at catalystcorp.org.