---

---

Products & Services
for Credit Unions

Vining Sparks is pleased to introduce you to its products and services designed specifically for credit union portfolios. As a national leader in executing fixed income securities transactions, Vining Sparks is uniquely qualified to provide credit union portfolio managers with opportunities to better meet their stated objectives. Our approach to successful investing combines strategic support services with broad trading capabilities. An overview of our services for credit unions is presented below:

• Vining Sparks is one of the world’s top 20 underwriters of newly issued debt by agencies of the U.S. Government. As such, we can structure deals specifically for you or let you know as new deals come to market.
• As a regional dealer, we have “one call access” to a wide array of primary dealer and regional inventories (including those you don’t regularly deal with). Our active trading desk is staffed by twenty-five trading professionals and even though we have our own inventory totalling hundreds of millions of dollars, we are not limited to just our own inventory.
• Our Performance Profile contains an executive summary of your credit union’s portfolio performance, asset/liability risk position, national/local peer group comparison, portfolio characteristics and cashflow ladder including color charts and graphs with recommendations. Overheads can be provided to assist in presenting to your Investment Committee.
• Through an in-house proprietary system, we can provide monthly pricing for virtually all fixed income securities. This system utilizes a variety of electronic pricing services and then selects the best source for each market sector and sector type. This approach is more accurate than using a single pricing source or a pricing matrix.
• Another Vining Sparks’ proprietary system compares your holdings to specific securities which pass through our inventory. When “matchers” are noted, you are notified of the opportunity to “add on” to your current position. This is especially helpful to portfolio managers who wish to limit the number of securities owned.
• Investors in securities with embedded options such as callable debt and mortgage-related securities will find our VPORT system helpful. This in-house system provides three services to assist in the regular management of these securities: 1) immediate notification of called securities by daily electronic monitoring; 2) predicted call dates updated regularly based on the current Treasury curve and newly issued security levels; and 3) five-year, month-by-month projection of cash flows based on predicted calls and projected prepayment speeds on amortizing securities. This system is also used to produce the Performance Profile mentioned above.
  

SPECIFIC SERVICES

Portfolio Management/Administrative Services

Bond Accounting System
State-of-the-art bond accounting reports run on the Paragon (owned by Almont/American Banker) system. User friendly reports and flexibility to accommodate user requests supported by a full time staff of CPAs and programmers makes this package a great asset to many financial institutions.

Safekeeping
Vining Sparks offers the safekeeping of your bonds through Bank of New York and/or Bankers Trust Co., New York. This service includes issuance of safekeeping receipts, timely principal and interest payments, and fees that are competitive within the industry.

Other Services

Peer Group Comparisons
A comparison of any credit union to a national or state peer group. Can also compare your credit union to multiple (up to 6) specific local competitors on the same report.

The Market Review
Weekly fixed income market and economic commentary including economic release calendar for the coming week and current offering levels on the investments most frequently purchased by credit unions.

Strategic Insight Research Reports
Provide executive summaries of new products or transaction ideas.

Sample Investment & Asset/Liability Policies
Includes consideration of all new or proposed regulations and incorporates security purchase/sale documentation checklists.

Regional Seminars
One and two day seminars on products and how to select the products that fit a credit union’s specific needs. Held annually in several locations nationwide.

If you have any questions, please contact your account representative or Randy Wade, Executive Vice President, at (800) 829-0321.