An article in American Banker reviews FHFA efforts to examine FHLBank membership rules through a Request for Information issued by the Agency in February.
According to the American Banker article, among the questions raised in the RFI is whether the FHFA should limit the amount of advances a FHLBank should have outstanding to a single member because “some Home Loan banks have granted large advances to a number of big banks, which has raised the question of whether all of that money is really being used for mortgage finance purposes,” the article notes.
John von Seggern, president and CEO of the Council of Federal Home Loan Banks, answers that question by pointing to the mission.
Says von Seggern: “The mission of the Federal Home Loan Banks is to provide reliable liquidity to our members to support housing finance and community investment. All of the liquidity the FHLBanks provide-by statute and regulation-must be collateralized by eligible assets, which are primarily mortgages and securities backed by real estate. This requirement ensures we support housing finance, while not imposing new, arbitrary regulatory requirements on exactly how FHLBank members deploy this liquidity.”
