Pub. 1 2020 Issue 5

as the amount of maturities and calls have outpaced new issuances, creating something of a scrum among investors. Nickel back Sometimes a team will insert a fifth defensive back into the lineup on obvious passing downs in order to give it a better chance of covering the potential pass receivers. This “nickel package” appears in balance sheet management in the form of match-funding assets and liabilities. If a community bank strategically adds assets through an acquisition or outright leverage, thought must be given to balancing the altered interest rate risk. Tools such as Vining Sparks’ Performance Architect can quantify the new dynamics of the balance sheet, including the impact on capital, margins and earnings. Fourth-quarter rally The third quarter of the calendar year for broker-dealers is often a period of low volume. Some of it has to do with portfolio managers not taking time to identify beneficial portfolio opportunities until the figurative two- minute warning. This year especially, there are plenty of good reasons to be distracted. The bad news is that there are a lot of community bankers who operate in a last-second mode. Late December is rarely a good time to be selling securities; it can, however, be a buyers’ market. Make decisions early — 10 minutes to go in the game is still relatively early. Late fourth quarter comebacks are hard to pull off. Go, team!  Many footballers prepare themselves for the season with frequent trips to the gym. There, they can make good use of barbells. Community bankers often utilize “barbells” to hedge their bets against rate movements. Jim Reber (jreber@icbasecurities. com) is president and CEO of ICBA Securities, ICBA’s institutional, fixed- income broker-dealer for community banks. Webinar series continues ICBA Securities and its exclusive broker-dealer, Vining Sparks, are hosting three webinars covering a range of topics in September, October and November to conclude its 2020 Community Banking Matters series. One free hour of CPE for each event is offered. To register, visit viningsparks.com or contact your Vining Sparks sales rep.