GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ENTERPRISES Raymond E
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Page 139 The information in this chapter was last updated in 1993. Since the money market evolves very rapidly, recent developments may have superseded some of the content of this chapter. Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Richmond, Virginia 1998 Chapter 11 GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED ENTERPRISES Raymond E. Owens The ability of savers to exchange loanable funds with borrowers is a foundation of modern economies. In most instances, the exchange is accomplished through financial intermediaries. Intermediaries arise in the private sector because they can profit from their ability to move funds from savers to borrowers at a cost lower than would arise from borrowers and savers acting individually. Some of the largest financial intermediaries in the United States today are government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Beginning as early as 1916, the federal government established these intermediaries to provide funding to sectors of the economy that it considered in need of credit beyond that supplied by purely private financial intermediaries. Government restrictions on private intermediaries' operations were believed to underlie the credit shortfalls. For example, banks in many states were restricted from making loans outside of their local lending areas, effectively preventing them from diversifying their loan portfolios geographically. This inability to diversify, it was contended, led intermediaries to limit their portfolio risk by making fewer real estate loans than they would if diversification had been possible.1 Private ownership distinguishes GSEs from credit programs directly affiliated with the federal government. Because GSEs are privately owned, they operate with only limited government direction. Since their funds come from private credit markets, GSEs are excluded from the federal budget, although some have borrowing privileges from the Treasury under certain circumstances. Exclusion from the federal budget places the activities of the GSEs under less congressional review than agencies whose budgets must undergo regular deliberation.2 Also, the GSEs are exempt from most of the laws and regulations that apply to federal agencies and employees. Finally, any financial gains or losses from the operation of GSEs are distributed among the GSEs' stockholders. 1 For a more thorough discussion of this point, see Cacy (1967) and Sellon (1990). 2 In recent years, however, GSEs have come under increasing scrutiny. Weak earnings and an increasing awareness of the potential risks that GSEs may pose to federal financial resources are partly responsible. The Congressional Budget Office (1991) reviews the risks and proposals to address them. Page 140 A GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE GSES Currently, six GSEs are in operation: l Federal Home Loan Bank System l Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) l Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) l Farm Credit System l Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation (Farmer Mac) l Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae). As the names suggest, the first three are intended to provide funds to housing, the next two to agriculture, and the last to higher education. Table 1 summarizes the organization structures, types of operations, and types of assets financed by the various GSEs. As shown in Table 1, the Farm Credit System includes 11 regional banks and three borrower-owned cooperatives as well as many local lender associations, while the Federal Home Loan Bank System operates through 12 regional banks. All other GSEs are single firms. Some GSEs operate primarily as portfolio lenders and hold most of the assets they purchase or loans they make in their own portfolios. The Farm Credit System, the Federal Home Loan Bank System, and Sallie Mae are primarily portfolio lenders. Other GSEs operate primarily as guarantors of loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issue mortgage-backed securities that represent fractional ownership of an underlying pool of mortgages originated by private financial institutions, and they guarantee some or all of the timely repayment of interest and principal to the holders of the securities. For this guarantee they deduct a fee from the payments made to the securities' holders. Table 2 shows a simplified balance sheet for the GSEs. The largest holder of loans purchased from private lenders at year-end 1991 was Fannie Mae, which held over $126 billion of mortgages. Freddie Mac held almost $26 billion of mortgages, and Sallie Mae held over $22 billion of student loans. The next asset category in Table 2 is loans to private lenders, which includes primarily advances, warehousing advances, and direct loans. Advances are loans made primarily by the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) to member thrifts to provide liquidity and to encourage growth in their portfolios. Warehousing advances are loans made by Sallie Mae to financial institutions and educational establishments which, in turn, lend the funds to qualified students. These totaled $9.7 billion in 1991. Direct loans are made directly to farmers and to rural homeowners by the Farm Credit Banks or their local associations. As of year-end 1991, these direct loans totaled about $50 billion. Other assets are cash, other investments, and physical assets such as buildings. For Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this category also includes interest receivables, currency swap receivables, and property acquired through foreclosure. Page 141 TABLE 1 Characteristics of Government-Sponsored Enterprises Organizational Enterprise Assets Financed Structure Operations Farm Credit System Farm Credit Agricultural 11 regional banks, 262 Portfolio lenders Banks operating, associations; all are and affiliated production, supply, and borrower-owned cooperatives associations real estate loans Banks for Loans and leases to 3 national borrower-owned Portfolio lenders Cooperatives agricultural cooperatives, cooperatives rural utilities, and others Federal Agricultural real estate Unitary firm Guarantor Agricultural and rural housing loans, Mortgage and loans guaranteed by Corporation the Farmers Home Administration Federal National Residential mortgage Unitary firm Guarantor; portfolio Mortgage Association loans lender Federal Home Residential mortgage Unitary firm Guarantor; portfolio Loan loans Mortgage Corporation lender Federal Home Advances secured by 12 district banks Portfolio lenders Loan residential mortgages Bank System or federal agency securities Student Loan Federally guaranteed Unitary firm Portfolio Marketing Association student loans and lender advances secured by them Source: Congressional Budget Office. Page 142 TABLE 2 Balance Sheets of the Government-Sponsored Agencies December 31, 1991 Assets Liabilities Loans Total Purchased Loans Assets from Made to or Total Credit Private Private Other Liabilities Market Other Lenders Lenders Assets + Equity Debt Liabilities Equity Federal Home Loan Banks — 79,065 75,491 154,556 108,149 35,711 10,696 Federal Home Loan 25,800 — 20,323 46,123 30,262 13,295 2,566 Mortgage Corporation Federal National 126,486 — 20,586 147,072 133,937 7,588 5,547 Mortgage Association Farm Credit System — 49,935 12,568 62,503 53,433 2,671 6,399 Federal Agricultural — — 66 66 50 1 15 Mortgage Corporation Student Loan Marketing Association 22,067 9,734 13,519 45,320 43,139 1,031 1,150 TOTAL 174,353 138,734 142,553 455,640 368,970 60,297 26,373 Source: Various 1991 annual reports of the GSEs. Page 143 Federal Home Loan Bank System The Federal Home Loan Bank System was created by Congress in 1932 to serve as a lender to savings and loan institutions, mutual savings banks, and mortgage-originating insurance companies. Twelve regional Federal Home Loan Banks were originally established. The activities of the regional banks were coordinated by the banks' common regulator, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, an independent federal agency. The National Housing Act, passed in 1934, established the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation under the System to insure the repayment of savings accounts held by the member institutions in the System. The 1970 Emergency Home Finance Act added the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) to the System. The FHLBs are owned by their member institutions, which are required to purchase stock in their regional bank. In 1989, the passage of the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act (FIRREA) expanded the types of financial institutions that may become members of the System by making membership available to commercial banks and credit unions holding 10 percent or more of their portfolio in home mortgages or related assets. Members of the FHLB System receive dividends on their stock, elect a majority of directors to the board of their regional bank, and receive advances and other banking services from the System. The main service received by FHLB members is advances that provide short-term liquidity or a longer- term source of funds for mortgage loans. The Federal Home Loan Bank System obtains funding for the advances by issuing notes and bonds in the domestic and international capital markets. In addition, the Federal Home Loan Bank System has the right to borrow up to $4 billion from the Treasury. The FHLBs also provide their members with a variety of other banking services. One of these, designed to help member banks control interest rate risk, is the interest rate swap, whereby the FHLBs and the member institutions formally agree to swap fixed interest rate payments for floating interest rate payments. The interest payment streams are based