EDUCATION ON TAP ICBA Securities/Stifel Virtual Bond School ICBA Securities’ exclusive broker Stifel will teach bond management fundamentals from the convenience of your office on a complimentary basis. The Virtual Bond School takes place on the afternoons of June 13–15. Participants can earn up to nine hours of CPE credit. To register, contact your Stifel rep or Jim Reber. or retirement money with. Large mutual fund families, state-sponsored retirement funds and life insurance companies are examples. In aggregate, they have owned nearly half of the total debt pie for most of this century, so their collective appetite for full faith and credit investments has mirrored Uncle Sam’s appetite for more borrowing. A lot of this can be attributed to the aging of the population and the advent of “targeted date” funds. KEEPS THE WHEELS TURNING If you’re of a certain vintage, you may already be invested in these vehicles. Targeted date funds are built for individuals who have an eye on a retirement date, whether it’s five or fifteen years from now. Each fund will gradually reallocate its assets out of riskier sectors (e.g., equities) and into debt securities (including Treasuries) as the target date approaches. Collectively, retirement funds (and individuals acting on their own) that gradually, systematically, add more Treasuries to their portfolios may continue to keep up demand to absorb the ever-increasing supply. So how does this rubber hit the road for Main Street? For starters, demand for U.S. debt helps keep a lid on our Federal deficit by subsidizing interest costs. It probably also keeps community banks’ net interest margins a bit lower than otherwise, even if most banks’ portfolios contain no Treasuries at all. Still, the global need for Treasury bills, notes and bonds may just possibly sync up with our growing deficit, and ultimately be supportive, long-term, of commerce as we know it. Unlike DuBois, the U.S. Treasury doesn’t depend on the kindness of strangers; rather, the global need for safe, liquid debt securities. n Jim Reber (jreber@icbasecurities.com) is President and CEO of ICBA Securities, ICBA’s institutional, fixed-income broker-dealer for community banks. Reliable expertise. We have extensive experience and technical expertise in the financial institutions industry. Our professionals are prepared to help you address any challenge and leverage every opportunity. Ryan Abdoo, partner ryan.abdoo@plantemoran.com Scott Petree, partner scott.petree@plantemoran.com plantemoran.com INDEPENDENT REPORT | 27
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