The NCUA board voted last week to allow Southwest Corporate FCU to engage in a pilot program assisting natural-person credit unions to develop a derivatives program. The program, which will be offered through the Dallas-based corporate's Southwest Corporate Investment Services unit, will be offered to credit unions as a way of hedging against interest rate risk. Several other corporates have been approved for similar programs.
Southwest Corporate said after the NCUA board approved its application in closed meeting that it has successfully structured billions of dollars in derivatives to hedge its own portfolio since 1992 and wants to share its expertise with its natural-person credit union members.
