OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – The bi-lateral 10-year non-compete agreement signed by US Central and CNBS four years ago when CNBS spun off from US Central was terminated effective May 7. Prior to January 1998, CNBS provided brokerage and investment advisory services to both corporate and natural person credit unions. When CNBS separated itself from US Central at that time, it agreed to only provide services to natural person CUs. US Central, meanwhile, formed Capital Markets Inc. and agreed it would only provide services to corporate CUs. According to CNBS President/CEO Brian Hague, the organization was approached by several corporate credit unions to license their representatives as joint employees of their respective corporate CUs and CNBS so the reps could provide brokerage services directly to their members. Hague said CNBS decided not to go that route "on the merits of a business decision." The corporates subsequently approached US Central to inquire if CMI could provide them the service. In order for CMI to be able to do so, US Central had to call the non-compete agreement off. CNBS is owned by 10 corporate CUs. From Hague's perspective, with the termination of the non-compete agreement, "CNBS can now offer the same services it's been offering to natural person credit unions to corporates. We've established ourselves as the leading of provider of services to natural person credit unions, and now we'll be able to provide the same level of service to corporates." Credit Union Times will provide in-depth coverage of this announcement in the May 22 issue as part of a special report on Corporate Credit Unions.