PLANO, Texas — Despite tight budgets at credit unions and bad press from S&P, Southwest Corporate's Economic Forum isn't suffering any. Registration for the Oct. 28 and 29 event has already exceeded last year's attendance.

"The market events of the last few months are unprecedented," said John Cassidy, Southwest Corporate's president/CEO. "Credit unions want to know what they can do to increase their insulation from these events, and the boldest ones want to know if it's possible to grow in this environment."

This year's economic forum is themed Looking Beyond the Horizon, and features speakers who will address political implications for the economy under a new U.S. president, emerging trends in technology, the impact of developing authentic member service relationships, the effects of high energy costs, global economic factors, demographic patterns, observations from Wall Street, as well as the latest in credit union statistics.