Insights from Catalyst

At the beginning of the year, I would never have believed the Fed would cut rates to near zero before the end of the first quarter. We, as an industry, were so used to hearing about finding the highest yielding investments and raising rates on loans. Now, the Fed has taken some significant actions, pushing market interest rates down to almost zero.

With Treasury yields at historical lows and fewer attractive investment alternatives, many credit unions may have high levels of cash on their balance sheet. And while investments with an embedded call option offer a higher yield, credit unions may also want to consider adding non-callable investments to their portfolio to help reduce call risk when market rates are low. One underutilized investment option for credit unions looking to achieve that structure is bank notes.

This new, electrically charged economic environment is still primed for volatility. For the first time since October 2008, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) called an emergency meeting. Actually, not just one, but two emergency meetings in March. An outcome of these meetings was to lower the Federal Reserve target range, ultimately, by 150 basis points.

I’ll say it, because it needs to be said: bond yields have fallen to near historic lows, again. Until last summer, investors had seen steady rate increases from the Federal Open Market Committee that began at the end of 2016. That meant higher investment yields for credit union investors after eight years with near-zero rates following the 2008 Financial Crisis.

As credit unions settle into the new COVID-19 operating world, credit unions are working hard to help their members. One avenue credit unions are actively pursuing to help their members is loan refinancing. And to no one’s surprise, mortgage refinancing activity is especially strong.