Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator instructions) Your first question comes from Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
On the liability duration of 529 days looks like you put on a lot of swaps in the quarter. I just wondered if you could give us some basic statistics on that swaps portfolio.
Lloyd McAdams
The mix of swaps is fairly similar to what we’ve had in the past, an average fixed period of approximately two and a half years. The overall swap balance did drift up a little bit relative to our overall repo exposure, primarily because the majority of the assets, actually all of the assets, that were acquired during the first quarter relative to the reinvestment of principle as well as the proceeds of our secondary offering where of either 51 hybrids and some fixed rates. So they were a mix of assets that we tend to have a little more of a swap balance on relative to some of the other shorter duration assets.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
The duration came in a little longer than I would have projected, but I guess that makes sense. Two other quick ones on a couple of the line items. On the compensation benefit expense, that was up significantly for the quarter. I was just wondering if you could comment on that and then the one other one, there was an other income item under the interest of 402,000. Just wondering if you could comment on each of those two.
Lloyd McAdams
The principle reason the compensation expense was up in the first quarter is there was no incentive compensation or additional compensation paid in the prior comparable quarter. I think that is the principle difference between 2007 and 2008. There were some basic salary adjustments took place at the beginning of 2008, but the main reason is that 2007 did not include any additional or incentive compensation paid to the management or any bonuses paid to the management.
Your next question was about the, I’m sorry you’ll have to say it again. I apologize.
Mike Widner - Stifel Nicolaus
It was the other income line, 402,000.
Joseph McAdams
I think what that’s related to is as we post relative to our interest rate swap division, historically the way it is operated is that we have bilateral margin calls, meaning when the positions have a positive value to us, we make margin calls to our counterparties. They typically meet those margin calls with cash, although they could deliver us treasury securities for other agency mortgage-backed securities and vice versa as we see in recent quarters when that value has gone negative from our perspective, we post collateral to those counterparties.
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