One of the overwhelming trends in banking that lenders have had to deal with over the last several years is the mass exodus away from variable rate financing.
With rates at generational lows across the globe, any borrower worth his salt is asking for (and getting) long term, fixed rate deals.
In order to compete, lenders have had to stretch beyond the typical comfort zone at many banks. With that stretch comes the next obvious question. How the heck do we hedge some of this risk so that we can keep booking deals without putting our balance sheet in a really ugly position?