UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

 

Form 10-K

 

ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d)

OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004

 

Commission File No.: 0-50231

 

Federal National Mortgage Association

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Fannie Mae

 

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:

(202) 752-7000

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

None

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Common Stock, without par value

(Title of class)

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.  Yes o     No þ

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act.  Yes o     No þ

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes o     No þ

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, or a non-accelerated filer. See definition of “accelerated filer and large accelerated filer” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

Large accelerated filer þ     Accelerated filer o     Non-accelerated filer o

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).  Yes o     No þ

 

The aggregate market value of the common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant computed by reference to the price at which the common stock was last sold on June 30, 2006 (the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $46,790 million.

 

As of October 31, 2006, there were 975,052,687 shares of common stock of the registrant outstanding.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

MD&A TABLE REFERENCE

 

 

This annual report is our first periodic report covering periods after June 30, 2004. Because of the delay in our periodic reporting and the changes that have occurred in our business since our last periodic filing, where appropriate, the information contained in this report reflects current information about our business.

 

This report contains our consolidated financial statements and related notes for the year ended December 31, 2004, as well as a restatement of our previously issued consolidated financial statements and related notes for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, and for the quarters ended June 30, 2004 and March 31, 2004. All restatement adjustments relating to periods prior to January 1, 2002 have been presented as adjustments to retained earnings as of December 31, 2001, which is available in “Item 6—Selected Financial Data.” In light of the substantial time, effort and expense incurred since December 2004 to complete the restatement of our consolidated financial statements for 2003 and 2002, we have determined that extensive additional efforts would be required to restate all 2001 and 2000 financial data. In particular, significant complexities of accounting standards, turnover of relevant personnel, and limitations of systems and data all limit our ability to reconstruct additional financial information for 2001 and 2000.

 

Fannie Mae’s activities enhance the liquidity and stability of the mortgage market. These activities include providing funds to mortgage lenders through our purchases of mortgage assets, and issuing and guaranteeing mortgage-related securities that facilitate the flow of additional funds into the mortgage market. We also make other investments that increase the supply of affordable rental housing. Our activities contribute to making housing in the United States more affordable and more available to low-, moderate- and middle-income Americans.

 

We are a government-sponsored enterprise (“GSE”) chartered by the U.S. Congress under the name “Federal National Mortgage Association” and are aligned with national policies to support expanded access to housing and increased opportunities for homeownership. We are subject to government oversight and regulation. Our regulators include the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (“OFHEO”), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Department of the Treasury.

 

While we are a Congressionally-chartered enterprise, the U.S. government does not guarantee, directly or indirectly, our securities or other obligations. We are a stockholder-owned corporation, and our business is self-sustaining and funded exclusively with private capital. Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and traded under the symbol “FNM.” Our debt securities are actively traded in the over-the-counter market.

 

We have undertaken comprehensive reviews of our accounting policies and procedures, financial reporting, internal controls, corporate governance and the structure of our management team and Board of Directors. We commenced these reviews in 2004 following our Board of Directors’ receipt of an interim report from OFHEO on its findings in a special examination. Since then, we have made extensive organizational and operational changes, improved our internal controls, and been subject to additional reviews and investigations. The following are summary descriptions of these events.

 

OFHEO Special Examination and Interim Report.  In July 2003, OFHEO notified us that it intended to conduct a special examination of our accounting policies and internal controls, as well as other areas of inquiry. OFHEO began its special examination in November 2003 and delivered an interim report of its findings to our Board of Directors in September 2004. In this interim report, and as further outlined in its May 2006 final report described below, OFHEO identified areas within our accounting that it determined did not

conform to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and specified weaknesses in our internal controls, compensation practices and corporate governance. We entered into agreements with OFHEO in September 2004 and March 2005 in which we agreed to take specified actions with respect to our accounting practices, capital levels and activities, organization and staffing, corporate governance, internal controls, compensation practices and other matters. See also “OFHEO Final Report and Settlement” below.

 

Special Review Committee and Paul Weiss Investigation and Report.  After receiving OFHEO’s interim report in September 2004, our Board of Directors established a Special Review Committee of independent directors to review OFHEO’s findings and oversee an independent investigation of issues raised in the report. The Special Review Committee engaged former Senator Warren B. Rudman and the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (“Paul Weiss”) to conduct the investigation and to prepare a detailed report of its findings and conclusions. Paul Weiss obtained independent professional accounting assistance and, in February 2006, reported its findings that our accounting practices in many areas were not consistent with GAAP, and aspects of our accounting were designed to show stable earnings growth and achieve forecasted earnings. Paul Weiss also concluded that the accounting systems we previously utilized were inadequate.

 

SEC Review of Our Accounting Practices.  Following the receipt of OFHEO’s interim report, we requested that the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant review our accounting practices with respect to two areas identified in OFHEO’s interim findings – hedge accounting and the amortization of purchase premiums and discounts on securities and loans, as well as other deferred charges – to determine whether our practices complied with the applicable GAAP requirements. In December 2004, the SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant advised us that, from 2001 to mid-2004, our accounting practices with respect to these two areas did not comply in material respects with GAAP requirements. Accordingly, the Office of the Chief Accountant advised us to (1) restate our financial statements filed with the SEC to eliminate the use of hedge accounting and (2) evaluate our accounting for the amortization of premiums and discounts, and restate our financial statements filed with the SEC if the amounts required for correction were material. The SEC’s Office of the Chief Accountant also advised us to reevaluate the GAAP and non-GAAP information that we previously provided to investors, particularly in view of the decision that hedge accounting was not appropriate.

 

Accounting-Related Changes and Financial Restatement.  After receiving OFHEO’s interim findings and the SEC’s determination, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors concluded in December 2004 that our previously filed interim and audited consolidated financial statements should not be relied upon since they were prepared applying accounting practices that did not comply with GAAP and, consequently, we would restate our consolidated financial statements. As part of the restatement, we have undertaken a comprehensive review of, and made numerous corrections to, our accounting policies and procedures as well as the information systems used to produce our accounting records and financial reports. The consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002 included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K include restatement adjustments that we have categorized into the following seven areas: our accounting for debt and derivatives; our accounting for commitments; our accounting for investments in securities; our accounting for MBS trust consolidation and sale accounting; our accounting for financial guaranties and master servicing; our accounting for amortization of cost basis adjustments; and other adjustments.

 

The overall impact of our restatement was a total reduction in retained earnings of $6.3 billion through June 30, 2004. This amount includes:

 

 

We previously estimated that errors in accounting for derivative instruments, including mortgage commitments, would result in a total of $10.8 billion in after-tax cumulative losses through December 31, 2004. In a subsequent 12b-25 filing in August 2006, we confirmed our estimate of after-tax cumulative losses on

derivatives of $8.4 billion, but disclosed that our previous estimate of $2.4 billion in after-tax cumulative losses on mortgage commitments would be significantly less. We did not provide estimates of the effects on net income or retained earnings of any other accounting errors, nor did we provide any estimates of the effects of our restatement on total assets, total liabilities or stockholders’ equity. As reflected in the results we are reporting in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, our retained earnings as of December 31, 2004 includes after-tax cumulative losses on derivatives of $8.4 billion and after-tax cumulative net gains on derivative mortgage commitments of $535 million, net of related amortization, for a total after-tax cumulative impact as of December 31, 2004 of approximately $7.9 billion related to these two restatement items. For more information regarding the restatement, see “Item 7—Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”)—Restatement” and “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements—Note 1, Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statements.”

 

Changes to Management and Board of Directors.  Since the announcement of our decision to restate in December 2004, we have made extensive changes in our senior management team and our Board of Directors. In December 2004, Franklin D. Raines, who had served as Chairman of the Board and our Chief Executive Officer, left his position. Our Board of Directors appointed Daniel H. Mudd as our new Chief Executive Officer. In addition, we have replaced all of our senior financial and accounting officers who served during the period in which we issued the consolidated financial statements that have been restated, including our Chief Financial Officer and Controller, and we hired a new General Counsel, Chief Risk Officer, Chief Audit Executive and Chief Compliance Officer. Our Board of Directors also appointed Stephen B. Ashley as non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors and has added six new directors to the Board since our receipt of OFHEO’s interim report in September 2004. In addition to these appointments and new additions to our Board of Directors and management team, we have reorganized our internal operations and made changes in the committee structure of our Board of Directors.

 

Replacement of Independent Auditors.  In December 2004, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors dismissed KPMG LLP (“KPMG”) as our independent registered public accounting firm. KPMG had served as our independent auditor since 1969 and had audited the previously issued financial statements that we have restated. The Audit Committee engaged Deloitte & Touche LLP (“Deloitte & Touche”) to serve as our independent registered public accounting firm effective January 2005. The consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K have been audited by Deloitte & Touche.

 

Capital Restoration Plan and 30% Capital Surplus Requirement.  In December 2004, OFHEO determined that we were significantly undercapitalized as of September 30, 2004. We prepared a capital restoration plan to comply with OFHEO’s directive that we achieve a 30% surplus over our statutory minimum capital requirement by September 30, 2005. In accordance with our plan, we met this capital requirement principally by issuing $5.0 billion in non-cumulative preferred stock, significantly decreasing the size of our mortgage investment portfolio, accumulating retained earnings and reducing our quarterly common stock dividend from $0.52 per share to $0.26 per share. Pursuant to our May 2006 consent order with OFHEO (described below), this requirement to maintain a 30% capital surplus remains in effect and may be modified or terminated only at OFHEO’s discretion. For additional information on our capital requirements, see “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Capital Management—Capital Adequacy Requirements.”

 

OFHEO Final Report and Settlement.  On May 23, 2006, OFHEO issued a final report on its special examination. OFHEO’s final report concluded that, during the period covered by the report (1998 to mid-2004), a large number of our accounting policies and practices did not comply with GAAP and we had serious problems in our internal controls, financial reporting and corporate governance. On May 23, 2006, we agreed to OFHEO’s issuance of a consent order that resolved open matters relating to their investigation of us. Under the consent order, we neither admitted nor denied any wrongdoing and agreed to make changes and take actions in specified areas, including our accounting practices, capital levels and activities, corporate governance, Board of Directors, internal controls, public disclosures, regulatory reporting, personnel and compensation practices. In addition, as part of this consent order and our settlement with the SEC discussed below, we have paid a $400 million civil penalty, with $50 million paid to the U.S. Treasury and $350 million paid to the SEC for distribution to stockholders pursuant to the Fair Funds for Investors provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

Limitation on the Size of Our Mortgage Portfolio.  As part of OFHEO’s May 2006 consent order, we agreed not to increase the size of our net mortgage portfolio above the $727.75 billion amount of net mortgage assets held as of December 31, 2005, except in limited circumstances at OFHEO’s discretion. Our “net mortgage assets” refers to the unpaid principal balance of our mortgage assets, net of GAAP adjustments. The consent order permitted us to propose increases in the size of our mortgage portfolio in a business plan submitted to OFHEO by July 2006. We may also propose to OFHEO increases in the size of our portfolio to respond to disruptions in the mortgage markets. The business plan we submitted to OFHEO in July 2006 did not request an increase in the current limitation on the size of our mortgage portfolio during 2006. We anticipate submitting an updated business plan to OFHEO in early 2007 that may include a request for modest growth in our mortgage portfolio. Until the Director of OFHEO has determined that modification or expiration of the limitation is appropriate, we will remain subject to this limitation on portfolio growth.

 

SEC Investigation and Settlement.  The SEC initiated an investigation of our accounting practices and, in May 2006, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, we consented to the entry of a final judgment which resolved all of the SEC’s claims against us in its civil proceeding. The judgment permanently restrains and enjoins us from future violations of specified provisions of the federal securities laws. In addition, as discussed under “OFHEO Final Report and Settlement” above, as part of our settlements with OFHEO and the SEC, we have paid a $400 million civil penalty, with $50 million paid to the U.S. Treasury and $350 million paid to the SEC for distribution to stockholders pursuant to the Fair Funds for Investors provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.

 

Investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.  In October 2004, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia notified us that it was investigating our past accounting practices. In August 2006, the U.S. Attorney’s Office advised us that it had discontinued its investigation and would not be filing any charges against us.

 

Stockholder Lawsuits and Other Litigation.  A number of lawsuits related to our accounting practices prior to December 2004 are currently pending against us and certain of our current and former officers and directors. For more information on these lawsuits, see “Item 3—Legal Proceedings.”

 

Impairment Determination.  On December 6, 2006, the Audit Committee of our Board of Directors reviewed the conclusion of our Chief Financial Officer and our Controller that we are required under GAAP to take the impairment charges described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the periods presented in this report and, following discussion with our independent registered public accounting firm, the Audit Committee affirmed that material impairments have occurred. Additional information relating to the impairment charges, including the amounts of the impairment charges and our estimates of the amounts of the impairment charges that we expect to result in future cash expenditures, are discussed in “Item 7—MD&A—Restatement—Summary of Restatement Adjustments.”

 

Residential Mortgage Debt Outstanding

 

Our business operates within the U.S. residential mortgage market. Because we support activity in the U.S. residential mortgage market, we consider the amount of U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding to be the best measure of the size of our overall market. As of June 30, 2006, the latest date for which information was available, the amount of U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding was estimated by the Federal Reserve to be approximately $10.5 trillion. Our book of business, which includes mortgage assets we hold in our mortgage portfolio and our Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities held by third parties, was $2.4 trillion as of June 30, 2006, or nearly 23% of total U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding. “Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities” or “Fannie Mae MBS” generally refers to those mortgage-related securities that we issue and with respect to which we guarantee to the related trusts that we will supplement mortgage loan collections as required to permit timely payment of principal and interest due on these Fannie Mae MBS. We also issue some forms of mortgage-related securities for which we do not provide this guaranty.

 

The mortgage market has experienced strong long-term growth. According to Federal Reserve estimates, total U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding has increased each year from 1945 to 2005. Growth in U.S.

residential mortgage debt outstanding averaged 10.6% per year over that period, which is faster than the 6.9% average growth in the U.S. economy over the same period, as measured by nominal gross domestic product. Growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding was particularly strong during 2001 through 2005. Total U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding grew at an estimated annual rate of almost 13% in 2002 and 2003, approximately 15% in 2004 and approximately 14% in 2005.

 

Homeownership rates, home price appreciation and certain macroeconomic factors such as interest rates are large drivers of growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding. Growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding in recent years has been driven primarily by record home sales, strong home price appreciation and historically low interest rates. Also contributing to growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding in recent years was the increased use of mortgage debt financing by homeowners and demographic trends that contributed to increased household formation and higher homeownership rates. Growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding has moderated in 2006 in response to slower home price growth, a sharp drop-off in home sales and declining refinance activity. While total U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding as of June 30, 2006 was 12.3% higher than year-ago levels, the annualized growth rate in the second quarter of 2006 slowed to 9.6%. We expect that growth in total U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding will continue at a slower pace in 2007, as the housing market continues to cool and home price gains moderate further or possibly decline modestly. We believe that the continuation of positive demographic trends, such as stable household formation rates, will help mitigate this slowdown in the growth in residential mortgage debt outstanding, but these trends are unlikely to completely offset the slowdown in the short- to medium-term.

 

Over the past 30 years, home values (as measured by the OFHEO House Price Index) and income (as measured by per capita personal income) have both risen at around a 6% annualized rate. During 2001 through 2005, however, this comparability between home values and income eroded, with income growth averaging approximately 4.1% and home price appreciation averaging over 9%. Moreover, home price appreciation was especially rapid in 2004 and 2005, with rates of home price appreciation of approximately 11% in 2004 and 13% in 2005 on a national basis (with some regional variations). This period of extraordinary home price appreciation appears to be ending. According to the OFHEO House Price Index, home prices increased at a 3.45% annualized rate in the third quarter of 2006, which was the slowest pace of home price appreciation since 1998. We believe a modest decline in national home prices in 2007 is possible.

 

The amount of residential mortgage debt available for us to purchase or securitize and the mix of available loan products are affected by several factors, including the volume of single-family mortgages within the loan limits imposed under our charter, consumer preferences for different types of mortgages, and the purchase and securitization activity of other financial institutions. See “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a description of the risks associated with the recent slowdown in home price appreciation, as well as competitive factors affecting our business.

 

Our Role in the Secondary Mortgage Market

 

The mortgage market comprises a major portion of the domestic capital markets and provides a vital source of financing for the large housing segment of the economy, as well as one of the most important means for Americans to achieve their homeownership objectives. The U.S. Congress chartered Fannie Mae and certain other GSEs to help ensure stability and liquidity within the secondary mortgage market. Our activities are especially valuable when economic or financial market conditions constrain the flow of funds for mortgage lending. In addition, we believe our activities and those of other GSEs help lower the costs of borrowing in the mortgage market, which makes housing more affordable and increases homeownership, especially for low- to moderate-income families. We believe our activities also increase the supply of affordable rental housing.

 

Our principal customers are lenders that operate within the primary mortgage market by originating mortgage loans for homebuyers and current homeowners refinancing their existing mortgage loans. Our customers include mortgage banking companies, savings and loan associations, savings banks, commercial banks, credit unions, community banks, and state and local housing finance agencies. Lenders originating mortgages in the primary market often sell them in the secondary mortgage market in the form of loans or in the form of mortgage-related securities.

We operate in the secondary mortgage market where mortgages are bought and sold. We securitize mortgage loans originated by lenders in the primary market into Fannie Mae MBS, which can then be readily bought and sold in the secondary mortgage market. We also participate in the secondary mortgage market by purchasing mortgage loans (often referred to as “whole loans”) and mortgage-related securities, including Fannie Mae MBS, for our mortgage portfolio. By delivering loans to us in exchange for Fannie Mae MBS, lenders gain the advantage of holding a highly liquid instrument and the flexibility to determine under what conditions they will hold or sell the MBS. By selling loans to us, lenders replenish their funds and, consequently, are able to make additional loans. Pursuant to our charter, we do not lend money directly to consumers in the primary mortgage market.

 

We operate an integrated business that contributes to providing liquidity to the mortgage market and increasing the availability and affordability of housing in the United States. We are organized in three complementary business segments:

 

 

Although we operate our business through three separate business segments, there are important interrelationships among the functions of these three segments. For example:

 

 

The table below displays the revenues, net income and total assets for each of our business segments for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2004. In our previously reported financial statements, we disclosed only two business segments, Portfolio Investment (which has since been renamed “Capital Markets”) and Credit Guaranty, because we aggregated the Single-Family Credit Guaranty and the HCD business segments into a single Credit Guaranty business segment. As described in “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements—Note 15, Segment Reporting,” we determined that this previous presentation of our business segments did not comply with GAAP.

 

Business Segment Summary Financial Information

 

 

 

 

 

We use various management methodologies to allocate certain balance sheet and income statement line items to the responsible operating segment. For a description of our allocation methodologies, see “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements—Note 15, Segment Reporting.” For further information on the results and assets of our business segments, see “Item 7—MD&A—Business Segment Results.”

 

Single-Family Credit Guaranty

 

Our Single-Family Credit Guaranty business works with our lender customers to securitize single-family mortgage loans into Fannie Mae MBS and to facilitate the purchase of single-family mortgage loans for our mortgage portfolio. Our Single-Family business manages our relationships with over 1,000 lenders from which we obtain mortgage loans. These lenders are part of the primary mortgage market, where mortgage loans are originated and funds are loaned to borrowers. Our lender customers include mortgage companies, savings and loan associations, savings banks, commercial banks, credit unions, and state and local housing finance agencies.

 

In our Single-Family business, mortgage lenders generally deliver mortgage loans to us in exchange for our Fannie Mae MBS. In a typical MBS transaction, we guaranty to each MBS trust that we will supplement mortgage loan collections as required to permit timely payment of principal and interest due on the related

Fannie Mae MBS. In return, we receive a fee for providing that guaranty. Our guaranty supports the liquidity of Fannie Mae MBS and makes it easier for lenders to sell these securities. When lenders receive Fannie Mae MBS in exchange for mortgage loans, they may hold the Fannie Mae MBS for investment or sell the MBS in the secondary mortgage market. This option allows lenders to manage their assets so that they continue to have funds available to make new mortgage loans. In holding Fannie Mae MBS created from a pool of whole loans, a lender has securities that are generally more liquid than whole loans, which provides the lender with greater financial flexibility. The ability of lenders to sell Fannie Mae MBS quickly allows them to continue making mortgage loans even under economic and capital markets conditions that might otherwise constrain mortgage financing activities.

 

The following table provides a breakdown of our single-family mortgage credit book of business as of December 31, 2004. Our single-family mortgage credit book of business refers to the sum of the unpaid principal balance of: (1) the single-family mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (2) the Fannie Mae MBS and non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities backed by single-family mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (3) Fannie Mae MBS backed by single-family mortgage loans that are held by third parties; and (4) credit enhancements that we provide on single-family mortgage assets. Our Single-Family business manages the risk that borrowers will default in the payment of principal and interest due on the single-family mortgage loans held in our investment portfolio or underlying Fannie Mae MBS (whether held in our investment portfolio or held by third parties).

 

Single-Family Mortgage Credit Book of Business

 

 

 

To ensure that acceptable loans are received from lenders as well as to assist lenders in efficiently and accurately processing loans that they deliver to us, we have established guidelines for the types of loans and credit risks that we accept. These guidelines also ensure compliance with the types of loans that our charter authorizes us to purchase. For a description of our charter requirements, see “Our Charter and Regulation of Our Activities.” We have developed technology-based solutions that assist our lender customers in delivering loans to us efficiently and at lower costs. Our automated underwriting system for single-family mortgage loans, known as Desktop Underwriter^®, assists lenders in applying our underwriting guidelines to the single-family loans they originate. Desktop Underwriter is designed to help lenders process mortgage applications in a more efficient and accurate manner and to apply our underwriting criteria to all prospective borrowers consistently and objectively. After assessing the creditworthiness of the borrowers and originating the loans, lenders deliver the whole loans to us and represent and warrant to us that the loans meet our guidelines and any agreed-upon variances from the guidelines.

 

Guaranty Services

 

Our Single-Family business provides guaranty services by assuming the credit risk of the single-family mortgage loans underlying our guaranteed Fannie Mae MBS held by third parties. Our Single-Family business also assumes the credit risk of the single-family mortgage loans held in our investment portfolio, as well as the single-family mortgage loans underlying Fannie Mae MBS held in our portfolio.

 

Our most common type of guaranty transaction is referred to as a “lender swap transaction.” Lenders pool their loans and deliver them to us in exchange for Fannie Mae MBS backed by these loans. After receiving the loans in a lender swap transaction, we place them in a trust that is established for the sole purpose of holding the loans separate and apart from our assets. We serve as trustee for the trust. Upon creation of the trust, we deliver to the lender (or its designee) Fannie Mae MBS that are backed by the pool of mortgage loans in the trust and that represent a beneficial ownership interest in each of the loans. We guarantee to each MBS trust that we will supplement mortgage loan collections as required to permit timely payment of principal and interest due on the related Fannie Mae MBS. The mortgage servicers for the underlying mortgage loans collect the principal and interest payments from the borrowers. We permit them to retain a portion of the interest payment as compensation for servicing the mortgage loans before distributing the principal and remaining interest payments to us. We retain a portion of the interest payment as the fee for providing our guaranty, and then, on behalf of the trust, we make monthly distributions to the Fannie Mae MBS certificate holders from the principal and interest payments and other collections on the underlying mortgage loans.

 

The following diagram illustrates the basic process by which we create a typical Fannie Mae MBS in the case where a lender chooses to sell the Fannie Mae MBS to a third party investor.

 

To better serve the needs of our lender customers as well as to respond to changing market conditions and investor preferences, we offer different types of Fannie Mae MBS backed by single-family loans, as described below:

 

 

Guaranty Fees

 

We enter into agreements with our lender customers that establish the guaranty fee arrangements for that customer’s Fannie Mae MBS transactions. Guaranty fees are generally paid to us on a monthly basis from a portion of the interest payments made on the underlying mortgage loans in the MBS trust.

 

The aggregate amount of single-family guaranty fees we receive in any period depends on the amount of Fannie Mae MBS outstanding during that period and the applicable guaranty fee rates. The amount of Fannie Mae MBS outstanding at any time is primarily determined by the rate at which we issue new Fannie Mae MBS and by the repayment rate for the loans underlying our outstanding Fannie Mae MBS. Less significant factors affecting the amount of Fannie Mae MBS outstanding are the rates of borrower defaults on the loans and the extent to which lenders repurchase loans from the pools because the loans do not conform to the representations made by the lenders.

 

Since we began issuing our Fannie Mae MBS nearly 25 years ago, the total amount of our outstanding single-family Fannie Mae MBS (which includes both Fannie Mae MBS held in our portfolio and Fannie Mae MBS held by third parties) has grown steadily. As of December 31, 2004 and 2005, total outstanding single-family Fannie Mae MBS was $1.8 trillion and $1.9 trillion, respectively. As of September 30, 2006, our total outstanding single-family Fannie Mae MBS was $2.0 trillion. Growth in our total outstanding Fannie Mae MBS has been supported by the value that lenders and other investors place on Fannie Mae MBS.

 

Our Customers

 

Our Single-Family business is primarily responsible for managing the relationships with our lender customers that supply mortgage loans both for securitization into Fannie Mae MBS and for purchase by our mortgage portfolio. During 2004, over 1,000 lenders delivered mortgage loans to us, either for purchase by our mortgage portfolio or for securitization into Fannie Mae MBS. We acquire a significant portion of our single-family mortgage loans from several large mortgage lenders. During 2004, our top five lender customers, in the aggregate, accounted for approximately 53% of our single-family business volumes (which refers to both single-family mortgage loans that we purchase for our mortgage portfolio as well as single-family mortgage loans that we securitize into Fannie Mae MBS). Our top customer, Countrywide Financial Corporation (through its subsidiaries), accounted for approximately 26% of our single-family business volumes in 2004. Due to consolidation within the mortgage industry, we, as well as our competitors, have been competing for business from a decreasing number of large mortgage lenders. See “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a discussion of the risks to our business resulting from this customer concentration.

TBA Market

 

The TBA, or “to be announced,” securities market is a forward, or delayed delivery, market for 30-year and 15-year fixed-rate single-family mortgage-related securities issued by us and other agency issuers. Most of our single-class single-family Fannie Mae MBS are sold by lenders in the TBA market. Lenders use the TBA market both to purchase and sell Fannie Mae MBS.

 

A TBA trade represents a forward contract for the purchase or sale of single-family mortgage-related securities to be delivered on a specified future date. In a typical TBA trade, the specific mortgage pools that will be delivered to fulfill the forward contract are unknown at the time of the trade. Parties to a TBA trade agree upon the issuer, coupon, price, product type, amount of securities and settlement date for delivery. Settlement for TBA trades is standardized to occur on one specific day each month. The mortgage-related securities that ultimately will be delivered, and the loans backing those mortgage-related securities, frequently have not been created or originated at the time of the TBA trade, even though a price for the securities is agreed to at that time. Some trades are stipulated trades, in which the buyer and seller agree on specific characteristics of the mortgage loans underlying the mortgage-related securities to be delivered (such as loan age, loan size or geographic area of the loan). Some other transactions are specified trades, in which the buyer and seller identify the actual mortgage pool to be traded (specifying the pool or CUSIP number). These specified trades typically involve existing, seasoned TBA-eligible securities issued in the market. TBA sales enable originating mortgage lenders to hedge their interest rate risk and efficiently lock in interest rates for mortgage loan applicants throughout the loan origination process. The TBA market lowers transaction costs, increases liquidity and facilitates efficient settlement of sales and purchases of mortgage-related securities.

 

Credit Risk Management

 

Our Single-Family business bears the credit risk of borrowers defaulting on their payments of principal and interest on the single-family mortgage loans that back our guaranteed Fannie Mae MBS, including Fannie Mae MBS held in our mortgage portfolio. In addition, Single-Family bears the credit risk associated with the single-family whole mortgage loans held in our mortgage portfolio. The Single-Family business receives a guaranty fee in return for bearing the credit risk on guaranteed single-family Fannie Mae MBS, including Fannie Mae MBS held in our mortgage portfolio. In return for bearing credit risk on the single-family whole mortgage loans held in our mortgage portfolio, Single-Family is allocated fees from the Capital Markets group comparable to the guaranty fees that Single-Family receives on guaranteed Fannie Mae MBS. As a result, in our segment reporting, the expenses of the Capital Markets group include the transfer cost of the guaranty fees and related fees allocated to Single-Family, and the revenues of Single-Family include the guaranty fees and related fees received from the Capital Markets group.

 

The credit risk associated with a single-family mortgage loan is largely determined by the creditworthiness of the borrower, the nature and terms of the loan, the type of property securing the loan, the ratio of the unpaid principal amount of the loan to the value of the property that serves as collateral for the loan (the “loan-to-value ratio” or “LTV ratio”) and general economic conditions, including employment levels and the rate of increases or decreases in home prices. We actively manage, on an aggregate basis, the extent and nature of the credit risk we bear, with the objective of ensuring that we are adequately compensated for the credit risk we take, consistent with our mission goals. For a description of our methods for managing mortgage credit risk and a description of the credit characteristics of our single-family mortgage credit book of business, refer to “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management.” Refer to “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a description of the risks associated with our management of credit risk.

 

Our Single-Family business is also responsible for managing the credit risk to our business posed by defaults by most of our institutional counterparties, such as our mortgage insurance providers and mortgage servicers. See “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management” for a description of our methods for managing institutional counterparty credit risk and “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a description of the risks associated with our management of credit risk.

Housing and Community Development

 

Our Housing and Community Development business engages in a range of activities primarily related to increasing the supply of affordable rental and for-sale housing, as well as increasing liquidity in the debt and equity markets related to such housing. In 2005, approximately 88% of the multifamily mortgage loans we purchased or securitized contributed to the housing goals established by HUD. See “Our Charter and Regulation of Our Activities—Regulation and Oversight of Our Activities—HUD Regulation—Housing Goals” for a description of our housing goals.

 

Our HCD business also engages in other activities through our Community Investment and Community Lending Groups, including investing in affordable rental properties that qualify for federal low-income housing tax credits, making equity investments in other rental and for-sale housing, investing in acquisition, development and construction financing for single-family and multifamily housing developments, providing loans and credit support to public entities such as housing finance agencies and public housing authorities to support their affordable housing efforts, and working with not-for-profit entities and local banks to support community development projects in underserved areas.

 

Multifamily Group

 

HCD’s Multifamily Group securitizes multifamily mortgage loans into Fannie Mae MBS and facilitates the purchase of multifamily mortgage loans for our mortgage portfolio. The amount of multifamily mortgage loan volume that we purchase for our portfolio as compared to the amount that we securitize into Fannie Mae MBS fluctuates from period to period. In recent years, the percentage of our multifamily business that has consisted of purchases for our investment portfolio has increased relative to our securitization activities. Our multifamily mortgage loans relate to properties with five or more residential units. The properties may be apartment communities, cooperative properties or manufactured housing communities.

 

Most of the multifamily loans we purchase or securitize are made by lenders that participate in our Delegated Underwriting and Servicing, or DUS^tm, program. Under the DUS program, we delegate the underwriting of loans to qualified lenders. As long as the lender represents and warrants that eligible loans meet our underwriting guidelines, we will not require the lender to obtain loan-by-loan approval before acquisition by us. DUS lenders generally act as servicers on the loans they sell to us, and servicing transfers must be approved by us. We also work with DUS lenders to provide credit enhancement for taxable and tax-exempt bonds issued by entities such as housing finance authorities. DUS lenders generally share the credit risk of loans they sell to us by absorbing a portion of the loss incurred as a result of a loan default. DUS lenders receive a higher servicing fee to compensate them for this risk. We believe that the risk-sharing feature of the DUS program aligns our interests and the interests of the lenders in making a sound credit decision at the time the loan is originated by the lender and acquired by us, and in servicing the loan throughout its life.

The following table provides a breakdown of our multifamily mortgage credit book of business as of December 31, 2004. Our multifamily mortgage credit book of business refers to the sum of the unpaid principal balance of: (1) the multifamily mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (2) the Fannie Mae MBS and non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities backed by multifamily mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (3) Fannie Mae MBS backed by multifamily mortgage loans that are held by third parties; and (4) credit enhancements that we provide on multifamily mortgage assets. Our HCD business manages the risk that borrowers will default in the payment of principal and interest due on the multifamily mortgage loans held in our investment portfolio or underlying Fannie Mae MBS (whether held in our investment portfolio or held by third parties).

 

Multifamily Mortgage Credit Book of Business

 

 

 

 

Unlike single-family loans, most multifamily loans require that the borrower pay a prepayment premium if the loan is paid before the maturity date. Additionally, some multifamily loans are subject to lock-out periods during which the loan may not be prepaid. The prepayment premium can take a variety of forms, including yield maintenance, defeasance or declining percentage. These prepayment provisions may provide incremental levels of certainty and reinvestment cash flow protection to investors in multifamily loans and mortgage-related securities, and may reduce the likelihood that a borrower will prepay a loan during a period of declining interest rates.

 

Our Multifamily Group generally creates multifamily Fannie Mae MBS in the same manner as our Single-Family business creates single-family Fannie Mae MBS. Mortgage lenders deliver multifamily mortgage loans

to us in exchange for our Fannie Mae MBS, which thereafter may be held by the lenders or sold in the capital markets. We guarantee to each MBS trust that we will supplement mortgage loan collections as required to permit timely payment of principal and interest due on the related multifamily Fannie Mae MBS. In return for our guaranty, we are paid a guaranty fee out of a portion of the interest on the loans underlying the multifamily Fannie Mae MBS. For a description of a typical lender swap transaction by which we create Fannie Mae MBS, see “Single-Family Credit Guaranty—Guaranty Services” above.

 

As with our Single-Family business, our Multifamily Group offers different types of Fannie Mae MBS as a service to our lenders and as a response to specific investor preferences. The most commonly issued multifamily Fannie Mae MBS are described below:

 

 

The fee and guaranty arrangements between HCD and Capital Markets are similar to the arrangements between Single-Family and Capital Markets. Our HCD business bears the credit risk of borrowers defaulting on their payments of principal and interest on the multifamily mortgage loans that back our guaranteed Fannie Mae MBS, including Fannie Mae MBS held in our mortgage portfolio. In addition, HCD bears the credit risk associated with the multifamily whole mortgage loans held in our mortgage portfolio. The HCD business receives a guaranty fee in return for bearing the credit risk on guaranteed multifamily Fannie Mae MBS, including Fannie Mae MBS held in our mortgage portfolio. In return for bearing credit risk on the multifamily whole mortgage loans held in our mortgage portfolio, our HCD business is allocated fees from the Capital Markets group comparable to the guaranty fees that it receives on guaranteed Fannie Mae MBS. As a result, in our segment reporting, the expenses of the Capital Markets group include the transfer cost of the guaranty fees and related fees allocated to our HCD segment, and the revenues of the HCD segment include the guaranty fees and related fees received from the Capital Markets group.

 

HCD’s Multifamily Group manages credit risk in a manner similar to that of Single-Family by managing the quality of the mortgages we acquire for our portfolio or securitize into Fannie Mae MBS, diversifying our exposure to credit losses, continually assessing the level of credit risk that we bear, and actively managing problem loans and assets to mitigate credit losses. Additionally, multifamily loans sold to us are often subject to lender risk-sharing or other lender recourse arrangements. As of December 31, 2004, credit enhancements existed on approximately 95% of the multifamily mortgage loans that we owned or that backed our Fannie Mae MBS. As described above, in our DUS program, lenders typically bear a portion of the losses incurred on an individual DUS loan. From time to time, we acquire multifamily loans pursuant to transactions in which the lenders do not bear any risk on the loan and we therefore bear all of the risk. In such cases, we are compensated accordingly for bearing all of the credit risk on the loan. For a description of our management of multifamily credit risk, see “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management.” Refer to “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a description of the risks associated with our management of credit risk.

Community Investment Group

 

HCD’s Community Investment Group makes investments that increase the supply of affordable housing. Most of these investments are in rental housing that qualifies for federal low-income housing tax credits, and the remainder are in conventional rental and primarily entry-level, for-sale housing. These investments are consistent with our focus on serving communities in need and making affordable housing more available and easier to rent or own.

 

The Community Investment Group’s investments have been made predominantly in low-income housing tax credit (“LIHTC”) limited partnerships or limited liability companies (referred to collectively in this report as “LIHTC partnerships”) that directly or indirectly own an interest in rental housing that the partnerships or companies have developed or rehabilitated. By renting a specified portion of the housing units to qualified low-income tenants over a 15-year period, the partnerships become eligible for the federal low-income housing tax credit. The low-income housing tax credit was enacted as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 to encourage investment by private developers and investors in low-income rental housing. To qualify for this tax credit, among other requirements, the project owner must irrevocably elect that either (1) a minimum of 20% of the residential units will be rent-restricted and occupied by tenants whose income does not exceed 50% of the area median gross income, or (2) a minimum of 40% of the residential units will be rent-restricted and occupied by tenants whose income does not exceed 60% of the area median gross income. The LIHTC partnerships are generally organized by fund manager sponsors who seek out investments with third-party developers who in turn develop or rehabilitate the properties and subsequently manage them. We invest in these partnerships as a limited partner with the fund manager acting as the general partner.

 

In making investments in these LIHTC partnerships, our Community Investment Group identifies qualified sponsors and structures the terms of our investment. Our risk exposure is limited to the amount of our investment and the possible recapture of the tax benefits we have received from the partnership. To manage the risks associated with a partnership, we track compliance with the LIHTC requirements, as well as the property condition and financial performance of the underlying investment throughout the life of the investment. In addition, we evaluate the strength of the partnership’s sponsor through periodic financial and operating assessments. Furthermore, in some of our partnership investments, our exposure to loss is further mitigated by our having a guaranteed economic return from an investment grade counterparty.

 

As of December 31, 2004, we had a recorded investment in these LIHTC partnerships of $6.8 billion. We earn a return on our investments in LIHTC partnerships through reductions in our federal income tax liability as a result of the use of the tax credits for which the partnerships qualify, as well as the deductibility of the partnerships’ net operating losses. The tax benefits associated with these partnerships was the primary reason for our effective tax rate in 2004 being 17% versus the federal statutory rate of 35%.

 

In addition to its investments in LIHTC partnerships, HCD’s Community Investment Group provides equity investments for rental and for-sale housing. These investments are typically made through fund managers or directly with developers and operators that are well-recognized firms within the industry. Because we invest as a limited partner or as a non-managing member in a limited liability company, our exposure is generally limited to the amount of our investment. Most of our investments in for-sale housing involve the construction of entry-level homes that are generally eligible for conforming mortgages. As of December 31, 2004, we had a recorded investment in these equity investments of $1.3 billion.

 

Community Lending Group

 

HCD’s Community Lending Group supports the expansion of available housing by participating in specialized debt financing for a variety of customers and by acquiring mortgage loans. These activities include:

 

 

 

In August 2006, OFHEO advised us to suspend new AD&C business until we have finalized and implemented specified policies and procedures required to strengthen risk management practices related to this business. We expect to have finalized and substantially completed implementation of these policies and procedures by December 2006. We will not engage in new AD&C business until OFHEO determines the finalized policies and procedures are satisfactory.

 

Capital Markets

 

Our Capital Markets group manages our investment activity in mortgage loans, mortgage-related securities and other liquid investments. We purchase mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities from mortgage lenders, securities dealers, investors and other market participants. We also sell mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities.

 

We fund our investments primarily through the proceeds from our issuance of debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets. By using the proceeds of this debt funding to invest in mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities, we directly and indirectly increase the amount of funding available to mortgage lenders. By managing the structure of our debt obligations and through our use of derivatives, we strive to substantially limit adverse changes in the net fair value of our investment portfolio that result from interest rate changes.

 

Our Capital Markets group earns most of its income from the difference, or spread, between the interest we earn on our mortgage portfolio and the interest we pay on the debt we issue to fund this portfolio, which is referred to as our net interest yield. As described below, our Capital Markets group uses various debt and derivative instruments to help manage the interest rate risk inherent in our mortgage portfolio. Changes in the fair value of the derivative instruments we hold impact the net income reported by the Capital Markets group business segment. Our Capital Markets group also earns transaction fees for issuing structured Fannie Mae MBS, as described below under “Securitization Activities.”

 

Mortgage Investments

 

The amount of our net mortgage investments was $924.8 billion as of December 31, 2004 and $919.3 billion as of December 31, 2003. As described in “Item 7—MD&A—Business Segment Results—Capital Markets Group,” the amount of our mortgage investments has decreased since December 31, 2004. We estimate that the amount of our net mortgage investments was $720.3 billion as of September 30, 2006. As described above under “Financial Restatement, Regulatory Reviews and Other Significant Recent Events,” as part of our May 2006 consent order with OFHEO, we agreed not to increase the size of our net mortgage portfolio above $727.75 billion, except in limited circumstances at OFHEO’s discretion. We will be subject to this limitation on mortgage investment growth until the Director of OFHEO has determined that modification or expiration of the limitation is appropriate in light of specified factors such as resolution of accounting and internal control issues. For additional information on our capital requirements and regulations affecting the amount of our mortgage investments, see “Our Charter and Regulation of Our Activities” and “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Capital Management.”

 

Our mortgage investments include both mortgage-related securities and mortgage loans. We purchase primarily conventional single-family fixed-rate or adjustable-rate, first lien mortgage loans, or mortgage-related securities backed by such loans. In addition, we purchase loans insured by the FHA, loans guaranteed by the Department of Veterans Affairs (“VA”) or by the Rural Housing Service of the Department of Agriculture (“RHS”), manufactured housing loans, multifamily mortgage loans, subordinate lien mortgage loans (e.g., loans secured by second liens) and other mortgage-related securities. Most of these loans are prepayable at the option of the borrower. Some of our investments in mortgage-related securities are effected in the TBA market, which is described above under “Single-Family Credit Guaranty—TBA Market.” Our investments in mortgage-related

securities include structured mortgage-related securities such as real estate mortgage investment conduits (“REMICs”). The interest rates on the structured mortgage-related securities held in our portfolio may not be the same as the interest rates on the underlying loans. For example, we may hold a floating rate REMIC security with an interest rate that adjusts periodically based on changes in a specified market reference rate, such as the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”); however, the REMIC may be backed by fixed-rate mortgage loans. The REMIC securities we own primarily fall into two categories: agency REMICs, which are generally Fannie Mae-issued REMICs, and non-agency REMICs issued by private-label issuers. For information on the composition of our mortgage investment portfolio by product type, refer to Table 22 in “Item 7—MD&A—Business Segment Results—Capital Markets Group—Mortgage Investments.”

 

While our Single-Family and HCD businesses are responsible for managing the credit risk associated with our investments in mortgage loans and Fannie Mae MBS, our Capital Markets group is responsible for managing the credit risk of the non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities in our portfolio.

 

Investment Activities and Objectives

 

Our Capital Markets group seeks to maximize long-term total returns, subject to our risk constraints, while fulfilling our chartered liquidity function. We pursue these objectives by purchasing, selling and managing mortgage assets based on market dynamics and our assessment of the economic attractiveness of specific transactions at given points in time. This approach is an enhancement to our strategy prior to 2005, which focused primarily on buying mortgage assets when anticipated returns met or exceeded our hurdle rates and generally holding those assets to maturity. We now also consider asset sales in order to generate economic value when supply and demand dynamics in our market result in attractive pricing for certain assets in our portfolio.

 

The level of our purchases and sales of mortgage assets in any given period has been generally determined by the rates of return that we expect to be able to earn on the equity capital underlying our investments. When we expect to earn returns greater than our cost of equity capital, we generally will be an active purchaser of mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities. When few opportunities exist to earn returns above our cost of equity capital, we generally will be a less active purchaser, and may be a net seller, of mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities. This investment strategy is consistent with our chartered liquidity function, as the periods during which our purchase of mortgage assets is economically attractive to us generally have been periods in which market demand for mortgage assets is low.

 

The difference, or spread, between the yield on mortgage assets available for purchase or sale and our borrowing costs, after consideration of the net risks associated with the investment, is an important factor in determining whether we are a net buyer or seller of mortgage assets. When the spread between the yield on mortgage assets and our borrowing costs is wide, which is typically when demand for mortgage assets from other investors is low, we will look for opportunities to add liquidity to the market primarily by purchasing mortgage assets and issuing debt to investors to fund those purchases. When this spread is narrow, which is typically when market demand for mortgage assets is high, we will look for opportunities to meet demand by selling mortgage assets from our portfolio. Even in periods of high market demand for mortgage assets, however, we expect to be an active purchaser of less liquid forms of mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities. The amount of our purchases of these mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities may be less than the amortization, prepayments and sales of mortgage loans we hold and, as a result, our investment balances may decline during periods of high market demand.

 

We determine our total return by measuring the change in the fair value of our net assets attributable to common stockholders, as adjusted for our capital transactions, such as dividend payments and share issuances and repurchases. The fair value of our net assets will change from period to period as a result of changes in the mix of our assets and liabilities and changes in interest rates, expected volatility and other market factors. The fair value of our net assets is also subject to change due to inherent market fluctuations in the yields on our mortgage assets relative to the yields on our debt securities. The fair value of our guaranty assets and guaranty obligations will also fluctuate in the short term due to changes in interest rates. These fluctuations are likely to produce volatility in the fair value of our net assets in the short-term that may not be representative of our long-term performance.

Customer Transactions and Services

 

Our Capital Markets group provides services to our lender customers and their affiliates, which include:

 

 

These activities provide a significant source of assets for our mortgage portfolio, help to create a broader market for our customers and enhance liquidity in the secondary mortgage market. Although certain securities acquired in this activity are accounted for as “trading” securities, we contemporaneously enter into economically offsetting positions if we do not intend to retain the securities in our portfolio.

 

In connection with our customer transactions and services activities, we may enter into forward commitments to purchase mortgage loans or mortgage-related securities that we decide not to retain in our portfolio. In these instances, we generally will enter into an offsetting sell commitment with another investor or require the lender to deliver a sell commitment to us together with the loans to be pooled into mortgage-related securities.

 

Mortgage Innovation

 

Our Capital Markets group also aids our lender customers in their efforts to introduce new mortgage products into the marketplace. Lenders often face limited secondary market appetite for new or innovative mortgage products. Our Capital Markets group supports these lenders by purchasing new products for our investment portfolio before they develop full track records for credit performance and pricing. Among the innovations that our Capital Markets group has supported recently are 40-year mortgages, interest-only mortgages and reverse mortgages.

 

Housing Goals

 

Our Capital Markets group contributes to our regulatory housing goals by purchasing goals-qualifying mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities for our mortgage portfolio. In particular, our Capital Markets group is able to purchase highly-rated mortgage-related securities backed by mortgage loans that meet our regulatory housing goals requirements. Our Capital Markets group’s purchase of goals-qualifying mortgage loans is a critical factor in our ability to meet our housing goals.

 

Funding of Our Investments

 

Our Capital Markets group funds its investments primarily through the issuance of debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets. The objective of our debt financing activities is to manage our liquidity requirements while obtaining funds as efficiently as possible. We structure our financings not only to satisfy our funding and risk management requirements, but also to access the market in an orderly manner with debt securities designed to appeal to a wide range of investors. International investors, seeking many of the features offered in our debt programs for their U.S. dollar-denominated investments, have been a

significant and growing source of funding in recent years. The most significant of the debt financing programs that we conduct are the following:

 

 

 

 

For more information regarding our approach to funding our investments and other activities, see “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Liquidity—Debt Funding.”

 

While we are a corporation chartered by the U.S. Congress, we are solely responsible for our debt obligations, and neither the U.S. government nor any instrumentality of the U.S. government guarantees any of our debt. Our debt trades in the “agency sector” of the capital markets, along with the debt of other GSEs. Debt in the agency sector benefits from bank regulations that allow commercial banks to invest in our debt and other agency debt to a greater extent than other debt. These factors, along with the high credit rating of our senior unsecured debt securities and the manner in which we conduct our financing programs, contribute to the favorable trading characteristics of our debt. As a result, we generally are able to borrow at lower interest rates than other corporate debt issuers. For information on the credit ratings of our long-term and short-term senior unsecured debt, qualifying subordinated debt and preferred stock, refer to “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Liquidity—Credit Ratings and Risk Ratings.”

In order to support the liquidity and strength of our debt programs, we engage in periodic repurchases of our debt securities. During 2004, we repurchased $4.3 billion of our outstanding debt through market purchases. We also called $155.6 billion of our outstanding debt.

 

Securitization Activities

 

Our Capital Markets group engages in two principal types of securitization activities:

 

 

Our Capital Markets group creates Fannie Mae MBS using mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities that we hold in our investment portfolio (referred to as “portfolio securitizations”). Our Capital Markets group may sell these Fannie Mae MBS into the secondary market or may retain the Fannie Mae MBS in our investment portfolio. The types of Fannie Mae MBS that our Capital Markets group creates through portfolio securitizations include the same types as those created by our Single-Family and HCD businesses, as described in “Single-Family Credit Guaranty—Guaranty Services” above. In addition, the Capital Markets group issues structured Fannie Mae MBS, which are described below. The structured Fannie Mae MBS are generally created through swap transactions, typically with our lender customers or securities dealer customers. In these transactions, the customer “swaps” a mortgage-related security they own for one of the types of structured Fannie Mae MBS described below. This process is referred to as “resecuritization.”

 

Our Capital Markets group earns transaction fees for issuing structured Fannie Mae MBS for third parties. The most common forms of such securities are the following:

 

 

Interest Rate Risk Management

 

Our Capital Markets group is subject to the risks of changes in long-term earnings and net asset values that may occur due to changes in interest rates, interest rate volatility and other factors within the financial markets. These risks arise because the expected cash flows of our mortgage assets are not perfectly matched with the cash flows of our debt instruments.

 

Our principal source of interest rate risk arises from our investment in mortgage assets that give the borrower the option to prepay the mortgage at any time. For example, if interest rates decrease, borrowers are more likely to refinance their mortgages. Refinancings could result in prepaid loans being replaced with new investments in lower interest rate loans and, consequently, a decrease in future interest income earned on our

mortgage assets. At the same time, we may not be able to redeem or repay a sufficient portion of our existing debt to lower our interest expense by the same amount, which may reduce our net interest yield.

 

We strive to maintain low exposure to the risks associated with changes in interest rates. To manage our exposure to interest rate risk, we engage in the following activities:

 

 

 

The use of derivatives also involves costs to our business. Changes in the estimated fair value of these derivatives impact our net income. Accordingly, our net income will be reduced to the extent that we incur losses relating to our derivative instruments. In addition, our use of derivatives exposes us to credit risk relating to our derivative counterparties. We have derivative transaction policies and controls in place to minimize our derivative counterparty risk. See “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management—Institutional Counterparty Credit Risk Management—Derivatives Counterparties” for a description of our derivative counterparty risk and our policies and controls in place to minimize such risk. Refer to “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a description of the risks associated with transactions with our derivatives counterparties.

 

 

For more information regarding our methods for managing interest rate risk and other market risks that impact our business, refer to “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Interest Rate Risk Management and Other Market Risks.”

 

Our competitors include the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, referred to as Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks, financial institutions, securities dealers, insurance companies, pension funds and other investors. Our market share of loans purchased for our investment portfolio or securitized into Fannie Mae MBS is affected by the amount of residential mortgage loans offered for sale in the secondary market by loan originators and other market participants, and the amount purchased or securitized by our competitors. Our market share is also affected by the mix of available mortgage loan products and the credit risk and prices associated with those loans.

 

We are an active investor in mortgage-related assets and we compete with a broad range of investors for the purchase and sale of these assets. Our primary competitors for the purchase and sale of mortgage assets are participants in the secondary mortgage market that we believe also share our general investment objective of seeking to maximize the returns they receive through the purchase and sale of mortgage assets. In addition, in recent years, several large mortgage lenders have increased their retained holdings of the mortgage loans they

originate. Competition for mortgage-related assets among investors in the secondary market was intense in 2004 and 2005. The spreads between the yield on our debt securities and expected yields on mortgage assets, after consideration of the net risks associated with the investments, were very narrow in 2004 and 2005, reflecting strong investor demand from banks, funds and other investors. This high demand for mortgage assets increased the price of mortgage assets relative to the credit risks associated with these assets.

 

We have been the largest agency issuer of mortgage-related securities in every year since 1990. Competition for the issuance of mortgage-related securities is intense and participants compete on the basis of the value of their products and services relative to the prices they charge. Value can be delivered through the liquidity and trading levels for an issuer’s securities, the range of products and services offered, and the reliability and consistency with which it conducts its business. In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the issuance of mortgage-related securities by non-agency issuers. Non-agency issuers, also referred to as private-label issuers, are those issuers of mortgage-related securities other than agency issuers Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. Private-label issuers have significantly increased their share of the mortgage-related securities market and accounted for more than half of new single-family mortgage-related securities issuances in 2005. As the market share for private-label securities has increased, our market share has decreased. During 2005, our estimated market share of new single-family mortgage-related securities issuance was 23.5%, compared to 29.2% in 2004 and 45.0% in 2003. For the third quarter of 2006, our estimated market share of new single-family mortgage-related securities issuance was 24.7%. Our estimates of market share are based on publicly available data and exclude previously securitized mortgages. We expect private-label issuers to continue to provide significant competition to our Single-Family business.

 

We also expect private-label issuers to provide increasingly significant competition to our HCD business. The commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) issued by private-label issuers are typically backed not only by loans secured by multifamily residential property, but also by loans secured by a mix of retail, office, hotel and other commercial properties. We are restricted by our charter to issuing Fannie Mae MBS backed by residential loans, which often have lower yields than other types of commercial real estate loans. Private-label issuers include multifamily residential loans in pools backing CMBS because those properties, while generally generating lower cash flow than other types of commercial properties, generally have lower default rates, which improves the overall performance of CMBS pools. To obtain multifamily residential property loans for CMBS pools, private-label issuers are sometimes willing to purchase loans of a lesser credit quality than the loans we purchase and to price their purchases of these loans more aggressively than we typically price our purchases. Because we usually guarantee our Fannie Mae MBS, we generally maintain high credit standards to limit our exposure to defaults. Private-label issuers often structure their CMBS transactions so that certain classes of the securities issued in each transaction bear most of the default risk on the loans underlying the transaction. These securities are placed with investors that are prepared to assume that risk in exchange for higher yields. We are responding to this increased competition from private-label issuers of CMBS, in part, by investing in investment grade CMBS securities backed by multifamily loans.

 

We are a stockholder-owned corporation organized and existing under the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act, which we refer to as the Charter Act or our charter. We were established in 1938 pursuant to the National Housing Act and originally operated as a U.S. government entity. Title III of the National Housing Act amended our charter in 1954, and we became a mixed-ownership corporation, with our preferred stock owned by the federal government and our common stock held by private investors. In 1968, our charter was further amended and our predecessor entity was divided into the present Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae. Ginnie Mae remained a government entity, but all of the preferred stock of Fannie Mae that had been held by the U.S. government was retired, and Fannie Mae became privately owned.

Charter Act

 

The Charter Act, as it was further amended from 1970 through 1998, sets forth the activities that we are permitted to conduct, authorizes us to issue debt and equity securities, and describes our general corporate powers. The Charter Act states that our purpose is to:

 

 

In addition to our overall strategy being aligned with these purposes, all of our business activities must be permissible under the Charter Act. Our charter specifically authorizes us to “deal in” conventional mortgage loans and to “purchase,” “sell,” “service,” and “lend on the security of” these types of mortgages, subject to limitations on the maximum original principal balance for single-family loans and requirements for credit enhancement for some loans. Under our Charter Act authority, we can purchase mortgage loans secured by first or second liens, issue debt and issue mortgage-backed securities. In addition, we can guarantee mortgage-backed securities. We can also act as a depository, custodian or fiscal agent for our “own account or as fiduciary, and for the account of others.” Furthermore, the Charter Act expressly enables us to “lease, purchase, or acquire any property, real, personal, or mixed, or any interest therein, to hold, rent, maintain, modernize, renovate, improve, use, and operate such property, and to sell, for cash or credit, lease, or otherwise dispose of the same” as we may deem necessary or appropriate and also “to do all things as are necessary or incidental to the proper management of [our] affairs and the proper conduct of [our] business.”

 

Loan Standards

 

The single-family conventional mortgage loans we purchase or securitize must meet the following standards required by the Charter Act.

 

 

Other Charter Act Limitations and Requirements

 

In addition to specifying our purpose, authorizing our activities and establishing various limitations and requirements relating to the loans we purchase and securitize, the Charter Act has the following provisions related to issuances of our securities, exemptions for our securities from the registration requirements of the federal securities laws, the taxation of our income, the structure of our Board of Directors and other limitations and requirements.

 

 

 

Regulation and Oversight of Our Activities

 

As a federally chartered corporation, we are subject to Congressional legislation and oversight and are regulated by HUD and OFHEO. In addition, we are subject to regulation by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and by the SEC. The Government Accountability Office is authorized to audit our programs, activities, receipts, expenditures and financial transactions.

 

HUD Regulation

 

Program Approval

 

HUD has general regulatory authority to promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of the Charter Act, excluding authority over matters granted exclusively to OFHEO. We are required under the Charter Act to obtain approval of the Secretary of HUD for any new conventional mortgage program that is significantly different from those approved or engaged in prior to the 1992 amendment of the Charter Act through enactment of the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act (the “1992 Act”). The Secretary must approve any new program unless the Charter Act does not authorize it or the Secretary finds that it is not in the public interest.

 

On June 13, 2006, HUD announced that it would conduct a review of our investments and holdings, including certain equity and debt investments classified in our consolidated financial statements as “other assets/other liabilities,” to determine whether our investment activities are consistent with our charter authority. We are fully cooperating with this review, but cannot predict the outcome of this review or whether it may require us to modify our investment approach or restrict our current business activities.

 

Housing Goals

 

The Secretary of HUD establishes annual housing goals pursuant to the 1992 Act for housing (1) for low- and moderate-income families, (2) in HUD-defined underserved areas, including central cities and rural areas, and (3) for low-income families in low-income areas and for very low-income families, which is referred to as “special affordable housing.” Each of these three goals is set as a percentage of the total number of dwelling units financed by eligible mortgage loan purchases. A dwelling unit may be counted in more than one category of goals. Included in eligible mortgage loan purchases are loans underlying our Fannie Mae MBS issuances, second mortgage loans and refinanced mortgage loans. Several activities are excluded from eligible mortgage loan purchases, such as most purchases of non-conventional mortgage loans, equity investments (even if they facilitate low-income housing), mortgage loans secured by second homes and commitments to purchase or securitize mortgage loans at a later date. In addition to the three goals set as a percentage of dwelling units financed by eligible mortgage loan purchases, beginning in 2005, HUD also established three home purchase mortgage subgoals that measure our purchase or securitization of loans by the number of loans (not dwelling units) providing purchase money for owner-occupied single-family housing in metropolitan areas. We also have a subgoal for multifamily special affordable housing that is expressed as a dollar amount.

 

Each year, we are required to submit an annual report on our performance in meeting our housing goals. We deliver the report to the Secretary of HUD as well as to the House Committee on Financial Services and the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs. The following table shows each of the housing

goals, which were constant during the 2002 through 2004 period, and our performance against those goals in each of the years in this period.

 

Housing Goals Performance: 2002-2004

 

 

 

 

As shown by the table above, we were able to meet all of our housing goals in each of the years from 2002 through 2004.

 

On November 2, 2004, HUD published a final regulation amending its housing goals rule effective January 1, 2005. The regulation increased housing goal levels and also created the three new home purchase mortgage subgoals described above. The increased housing goal levels and new subgoal levels over the four-year period beginning January 1, 2005 are shown below.

 

New Housing Goals and Home Purchase Subgoals

 

The following table shows each of our housing goals and home purchase subgoals during 2005, and our performance against those goals and subgoals in 2005.

 

Housing Goals and Subgoals Performance: 2005

 

 

 

 

As shown in the table above, we met all of our three affordable housing goals: the low- and moderate-income housing goal, the underserved areas goal and the special affordable housing goal. We also met three of the four subgoals: the special affordable home purchase subgoal, the underserved areas home purchase subgoal, and the special affordable multifamily subgoal. We fell slightly short of the low- and moderate-income home purchase subgoal.

 

The affordable housing goals are subject to enforcement by the Secretary of HUD. HUD’s regulations allow HUD to require us to submit a housing plan if we fail to meet our housing goals and HUD determines that achievement was feasible, taking into account market and economic conditions and our financial condition. The housing plan must describe the actions we will take to meet the goals in the next calendar year. If HUD determines that we have failed to submit a housing plan or to make a good faith effort to comply with the plan, HUD has the right to take certain administrative actions. The potential penalties for failure to comply with HUD’s housing plan requirements are a cease-and-desist order and civil money penalties. Pursuant to the 1992 Act, the low- and moderate-income housing subgoal and the underserved areas subgoal are not enforceable by HUD. As noted above, we did not meet the low- and moderate-income home purchase subgoal in 2005. Because this subgoal is not enforceable, there is no penalty for failing to meet this subgoal.

 

These new housing goals and subgoals are designed to increase the amount of mortgage financing that we make available to target populations and geographic areas defined by the goals. We have made, and continue to make, significant adjustments to our mortgage loan sourcing and purchase strategies in an effort to meet these increased housing goals and the subgoals. These strategies include entering into some purchase and securitization transactions with lower expected economic returns than our typical transactions. We have also relaxed some of our underwriting criteria to obtain goals-qualifying mortgage loans and increased our investments in higher-risk mortgage loan products that are more likely to serve the borrowers targeted by HUD’s goals and subgoals, which could increase our credit losses. The Charter Act explicitly authorizes us to undertake “activities . . . involving a reasonable economic return that may be less than the return earned on other activities” in order to meet these goals.

 

We believe that we are making progress toward achieving our 2006 housing goals and subgoals. Meeting the higher subgoals for 2006 is challenging, however, as increased home prices and higher interest rates have reduced housing affordability. Since HUD set the home purchase subgoals in 2004, the affordable housing markets have experienced a dramatic change. Newly-released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data show that the share of the primary mortgage market serving low- and moderate-income borrowers declined in 2005,

reducing our ability to purchase and securitize mortgage loans that meet the HUD subgoals. The National Association of REALTORS^® (“NAR”) housing affordability index has dropped from 130.7 in 2003 to 99.6 in July of 2006—the lowest level of affordability seen in the market since 1986. If our efforts to meet the new housing goals and subgoals prove to be insufficient, we may need to take additional steps that could increase our credit losses and reduce our profitability. See “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for more information on how changes we are making to our business strategies in order to meet HUD’s new housing goals and subgoals may reduce our profitability.

 

OFHEO Regulation

 

OFHEO is an independent office within HUD that is responsible for ensuring that we are adequately capitalized and operating safely in accordance with the 1992 Act. We are required to submit to OFHEO annual and quarterly reports on our financial condition and results of operations. OFHEO is authorized to levy annual assessments on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to the extent authorized by Congress, to cover OFHEO’s reasonable expenses. OFHEO’s formal enforcement powers include the power to impose temporary and final cease-and-desist orders and civil monetary penalties on us and our directors and executive officers. OFHEO also may use other informal supervisory procedures of the type that are generally used by federal bank regulatory agencies.

 

OFHEO Special Examination

 

In 2003, OFHEO commenced a special examination of our accounting policies and practices, internal controls, financial reporting, corporate governance, and other matters. In its September 2004 interim report and May 2006 final report of the findings of its special examination, OFHEO concluded that, during the period covered by the reports (1998 to mid-2004), a large number of our accounting policies and practices did not comply with GAAP and we had serious problems in our internal controls, financial reporting and corporate governance. We entered into agreements with OFHEO in September 2004 and March 2005 pursuant to which we agreed to take specified corrective actions to address the concerns and issues that OFHEO raised in its examination.

 

On May 23, 2006, concurrently with OFHEO’s release of its final report, we agreed to OFHEO’s issuance of a consent order without admitting or denying any wrongdoing or any asserted or implied finding or other basis for the consent order. This consent order superseded and terminated both our September 2004 and March 2005 agreements with OFHEO, and resolved all matters addressed by OFHEO’s interim and final reports of its special examination. Under this consent order, we agreed to undertake specified remedial actions to address the recommendations contained in OFHEO’s May 2006 report, including actions relating to our corporate governance, Board of Directors, capital plans, internal controls, accounting practices, public disclosures, regulatory reporting, personnel and compensation practices. We also agreed not to increase our net mortgage assets above the amount shown in our minimum capital report to OFHEO for December 31, 2005 ($727.75 billion), except in limited circumstances at OFHEO’s discretion. Given our need to remediate our identified control deficiencies, the business plan we submitted to OFHEO in July 2006 did not request an increase in the current limitation on the size of our mortgage portfolio during 2006. We anticipate submitting an updated business plan to OFHEO in early 2007 that will take into account our remediation efforts completed at that time. The business plan may include a request for modest growth in our mortgage portfolio.

 

As part of this consent order and our settlement with the SEC discussed below, we agreed to pay a $400 million civil penalty, with $50 million payable to the U.S. Treasury and $350 million payable to the SEC for distribution to stockholders pursuant to the Fair Funds for Investors provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. We have paid this civil penalty in full and it has been recorded as an expense in our 2004 consolidated financial statements.

 

Capital Requirements

 

As part of its responsibilities under the 1992 Act, OFHEO has regulatory authority as to the capital requirements established by the 1992 Act, issuing regulations on capital adequacy and enforcing capital standards. The 1992 Act capital requirements include minimum and critical capital requirements calculated as specified percentages of our assets and our off-balance sheet obligations, such as outstanding guaranties. In

addition, the 1992 Act capital requirements include a risk-based capital requirement that is calculated as the amount of capital needed to withstand a severe ten-year stress period in which it is assumed that there would simultaneously be extreme movements in interest rates and severe credit losses. Moreover, to allow for management and operations risks, an additional 30% is added to the amount necessary to withstand the ten-year stress period. On a quarterly basis, we are required by regulation to report to OFHEO on the level of our capital and whether we are in compliance with the capital requirements established by OFHEO. We also provide monthly reports to OFHEO on the level of our capital and our compliance with the capital requirements.

 

Compliance with the capital requirements could limit our operations that require intensive use of capital and could restrict our ability to make payments on our qualifying subordinated debt or pay dividends on our preferred and common stock. If we fail to meet our capital requirements, OFHEO is permitted or required, depending on the requirement we fail to meet, to take remedial actions. Further, if we fail to meet our capital requirements, we are required to submit a capital restoration plan. We currently operate under a capital restoration plan, described below, that OFHEO approved in February 2005. In addition, if OFHEO determines that we are engaging in conduct not approved by OFHEO’s Director that could result in a rapid depletion of our core capital, or that the value of the property securing mortgage loans we hold or have securitized has decreased significantly, or if OFHEO does not approve the capital restoration plan or determines that we have failed to make reasonable efforts to comply with the plan, then OFHEO may take remedial measures as if we were not meeting the capital requirements that we otherwise meet.

 

The 1992 Act gives OFHEO the authority, after following prescribed procedures, to appoint a conservator. Under OFHEO’s regulations, appointment of a conservator is mandatory, with limited exceptions, if we are critically undercapitalized (that is, our core capital is less than our critical capital). Appointment of a conservator is discretionary under OFHEO’s rules if we are significantly undercapitalized (that is, our core capital is less than our required minimum capital), and alternative remedies are unavailable. The 1992 Act and OFHEO’s rules also specify other grounds for appointing a conservator.

 

In December 2004, OFHEO determined that we were significantly undercapitalized as of September 30, 2004. We prepared a capital restoration plan to comply with OFHEO’s directive that we achieve a 30% surplus over our statutory minimum capital requirement by September 30, 2005. Our plan was accepted by OFHEO in February 2005 and, in accordance with the plan, we increased our capital in 2005 by:

 

 

OFHEO announced on November 1, 2005 that we had achieved a 30% surplus over our minimum capital requirement as of September 30, 2005. Under our May 2006 consent order with OFHEO, we agreed to continue to maintain a 30% capital surplus over our statutory minimum capital requirement until the Director of OFHEO, in his discretion, determines the requirement should be modified or allowed to expire, taking into account factors such as resolution of accounting and internal control issues. For additional information on our capital requirements, see “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Capital Management—Capital Adequacy Requirements.”

Dividend Restrictions

 

Our capital requirements under the Charter Act and as administered by OFHEO may restrict the ability of our Board of Directors to declare dividends, authorize repurchases of our preferred or common stock, or approve any other capital distributions in the following circumstances:

 

 

In addition, under our May 2006 consent order with OFHEO, we agreed to the following additional restrictions relating to our capital distributions:

 

 

Refer to “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Capital Management—Capital Adequacy Requirements” for a description of our statutory capital requirements and our core capital, total capital and other capital classification measures as of December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002.

 

Recent Legislative Developments and Possible Changes in Our Regulations

 

The U.S. Congress is considering legislation that would change the regulatory framework under which we, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks operate. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House of Representatives each advanced GSE regulatory oversight legislation in 2005 during the first session of the 109th Congress. On October 26, 2005, the House of Representatives passed a bill and on July 28, 2005, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs passed a bill, which has not yet been brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote. While the House and Senate bills differ in a number of respects, both bills would affect us and other GSEs by significantly altering the scope of:

 

 

In addition, the House bill would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to contribute a portion of their profits to a fund to support affordable housing.

 

The specific provisions of legislation, if any, that may ultimately be passed by both the House and the Senate are uncertain. Also uncertain is the timing for enactment of such legislation. We support any legislation that

will improve our effectiveness in increasing liquidity and lowering the cost of borrowing in the mortgage market and, as a result, expanding access to housing and increasing opportunities for homeownership.

 

As Fannie Mae has testified before Congress, we continue to support legislation:

 

 

It is possible, however, that the enactment of legislation could have a material adverse effect on our earnings and the prospects for our business. Refer to “Item 1A—Risk Factors” for a description of how these proposed changes in the regulation of our business could materially adversely affect our business and earnings.

 

 

As of December 31, 2004, we employed approximately 5,400 personnel, including full-time and part-time employees, term employees and employees on leave. During 2005 and 2006, we increased the number of our employees, both as part of significantly improving our accounting practices, risk management, internal controls and corporate governance, and as appropriate to complete the restatement of our previously issued consolidated financial statements. As of October 31, 2006, we employed approximately 6,400 personnel, including full-time and part-time employees, term employees and employees on leave.

 

 

We file reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Our Web site address is www.fanniemae.com, and we make available free of charge through our Web site our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all other SEC reports and amendments to those reports as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file the material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. Materials that we file with the SEC are also available from the SEC’s Web site, www.sec.gov. In addition, these materials may be inspected, without charge, and copies may be obtained at prescribed rates, at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Room 1580, Washington, DC 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. You may also request copies of any filing from us, at no cost, by telephone at (202) 752-7000 or by mail at 3900 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016.

 

Effective March 31, 2003, we voluntarily registered our common stock with the SEC under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act. Our common stock, as well as the debt, preferred stock and mortgage-backed securities we issue, are exempt from registration under the Securities Act of 1933 and are “exempted” securities under the 1934 Act. The voluntary registration of our common stock does not affect the exempt status of the debt, equity and mortgage-backed securities that we issue.

 

With regard to OFHEO’s regulation of our activities, you may obtain materials from OFHEO’s Web site, www.ofheo.gov. These materials include the September 2004 interim report of OFHEO’s findings of its special examination and the May 2006 final report on its findings.

 

We are providing our Web site address and the Web site addresses of the SEC and OFHEO solely for your information. Information appearing on our Web site or on the SEC’s Web site or OFHEO’s Web site is not incorporated into this Annual Report on Form 10-K except as specifically stated in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

 

This report contains forward-looking statements, which are statements about matters that are not historical or current facts. In addition, our senior management may from time to time make forward-looking statements orally to analysts, investors, the news media and others. Forward-looking statements often include words such as “expects,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “seeks,” “estimates,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may,” or similar words. Among the forward-looking statements in this report are statements relating to:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forward-looking statements reflect our management’s expectations or predictions of future conditions, events or results based on various assumptions and management’s estimates of trends and economic factors in the markets in which we are active, as well as our business plans. They are not guarantees of future performance. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. Our actual results and financial condition may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results and financial condition indicated in these forward-looking statements. There are a number of factors that could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements contained in this report. A discussion of factors that could cause actual conditions, events or results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements appears in “Item 1A—Risk Factors.”

 

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this report or that we make from time to time, and to consider carefully the factors discussed in “Item 1A—Risk Factors” in evaluating these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are representative only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

 

Terms used in this report have the following meanings, unless the context indicates otherwise.

 

“Agency issuers” refers to the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as Ginnie Mae.

 

“Alt-A mortgage” refers to a mortgage loan underwritten using more liberal standards such as higher loan-to-value ratios and less documentation of borrower income or assets.

“ARM” or “adjustable-rate mortgage” refers to a mortgage loan with an interest rate that adjusts periodically over the life of the mortgage based on changes in a specified index.

 

“Book of business” refers to the sum of: (1) the unpaid principal balance of the mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities we hold in our mortgage portfolio and (2) the unpaid principal balance of Fannie Mae MBS held by third parties.

 

“Business volume” refers to both the unpaid principal balance of the mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities we purchase for our mortgage portfolio in a given period and the unpaid principal balance of the mortgage loans we securitize into Fannie Mae MBS that are acquired by third parties in such period.

 

“Charter Act” or “our charter” refers to the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act, 12 U.S.C. §1716 et seq.

 

“Conforming mortgage” refers to a conventional single-family mortgage loan with an original principal balance that is equal to or less than the applicable conforming loan limit, which is the applicable maximum original principal balance for a mortgage loan that we are permitted by our charter to purchase or securitize. The conforming loan limit is established each year by OFHEO based on the national average price of a one-family residence. The current conforming loan limit for a one-family residence in most geographic areas is $417,000.

 

“Conventional mortgage” refers to a mortgage loan that is not guaranteed or insured by the U.S. government or its agencies, such as the VA, FHA or RHS.

 

“Conventional single-family mortgage credit book of business” refers to the sum of the unpaid principal balance of: (1) the conventional single-family mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (2) the Fannie Mae MBS and non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities backed by conventional single-family mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (3) Fannie Mae MBS backed by conventional single-family mortgage loans that are held by third parties; and (4) credit enhancements that we provide on conventional single-family mortgage assets.

 

“Core capital” refers to a regulatory measure of our capital that represents the sum of the stated value of our outstanding common stock (common stock less treasury stock), the stated value of our outstanding non-cumulative perpetual preferred stock, our paid-in capital and our retained earnings, as determined in accordance with GAAP.

 

“Credit enhancement” refers to a method to reduce credit risk by requiring collateral, letters of credit, mortgage insurance, corporate guaranties, or other agreements to provide an entity with some assurance that it will be recompensed to some degree in the event of a financial loss.

 

“Critical capital requirement” refers to the amount of core capital below which we would be classified by OFHEO as critically undercapitalized and generally would be required to be placed in conservatorship. Our critical capital requirement is generally equal to the sum of: (1) 1.25% of on-balance sheet assets; (2) 0.25% of the unpaid principal balance of outstanding Fannie Mae MBS held by third parties; and (3) up to 0.25% of other off-balance sheet obligations.

 

“Delinquency” refers to an instance in which a principal or interest payment on a mortgage loan has not been made in full by the due date.

 

“Derivative” refers to a financial instrument that derives its value based on changes in an underlying, such as security or commodity prices, interest rates, currency rates or other financial indices. Examples of derivatives include futures, options and swaps.

 

“Duration” refers to the sensitivity of the value of a security to changes in interest rates. It can be calculated for non-callable securities as the weighted-average maturity of a security’s future cash flows, both principal and interest, where the present values of the cash flows serve as the weights.

 

“Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities” or “Fannie Mae MBS” generally refer to those mortgage-related securities that we issue and with respect to which we guarantee to the related trusts that we will supplement mortgage loan collections as required to permit timely payment of principal and interest due on the related

Fannie Mae MBS. We also issue some forms of mortgage-related securities for which we do not provide this guaranty. The term “Fannie Mae MBS” refers to all forms of mortgage-related securities that we issue, including single-class Fannie Mae MBS and multi-class Fannie Mae MBS.

 

“Fixed-rate mortgage” refers to a mortgage loan with an interest rate that does not change during the entire term of the loan.

 

“GAAP” refers to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States.

 

“GSEs” refers to government-sponsored enterprises such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

 

“HUD” refers to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

“Implied volatility” refers to the market’s expectation of potential changes in interest rates.

 

“Interest-only loan” refers to a mortgage loan that allows the borrower to pay only the monthly interest due, and none of the principal, for a fixed term. After the end of that term, typically five to ten years, the borrower can choose to refinance, pay the principal balance in a lump sum, or begin paying the monthly scheduled principal due on the loan, which results in a higher monthly payment at that time. Interest-only loans can be adjustable-rate or fixed-rate mortgage loans.

 

“Interest rate swap” refers to a transaction between two parties in which each agrees to exchange payments tied to different interest rates or indices for a specified period of time, generally based on a notional principal amount. An interest rate swap is a type of derivative.

 

“Intermediate-term mortgage” refers to a mortgage loan with a contractual maturity at the time of purchase equal to or less than 15 years.

 

“LIHTC partnerships” refer to low-income housing tax credit limited partnerships or limited liability companies. For a description of these partnerships, refer to “Business Segments—Housing and Community Development—Community Investment Group” above.

 

“Liquid assets” refers to our holdings of non-mortgage investments, cash and cash equivalents, and funding agreements with our lenders, including advances to lenders and repurchase agreements.

 

“Loans,” “mortgage loans” and “mortgages” refer to both whole loans and loan participations, secured by residential real estate, cooperative shares or by manufactured housing units.

 

“Loan-to-value ratio” or “LTV ratio” refers to the ratio, at any point in time, of the unpaid principal amount of a borrower’s mortgage loan to the value of the property that serves as collateral for the loan (expressed as a percentage).

 

“Minimum capital requirement” refers to the amount of core capital below which we would be classified by OFHEO as undercapitalized. Our minimum capital requirement is generally equal to the sum of: (1) 2.50% of on-balance sheet assets; (2) 0.45% of the unpaid principal balance of outstanding Fannie Mae MBS held by third parties; and (3) up to 0.45% of other off-balance sheet obligations.

 

“Mortgage assets,” when referring to our assets, refers to both mortgage loans and mortgage-related securities we hold in our portfolio.

 

“Mortgage credit book of business” refers to the sum of the unpaid principal balance of: (1) the mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (2) the Fannie Mae MBS and non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities we hold in our investment portfolio; (3) Fannie Mae MBS that are held by third parties; and (4) credit enhancements that we provide on mortgage assets.

 

“Mortgage-related securities” or “mortgage-backed securities” refer generally to securities that represent beneficial interests in pools of mortgage loans or other mortgage-related securities. These securities may be issued by Fannie Mae or by others.

“Multifamily” mortgage loan refers to a mortgage loan secured by a property containing five or more residential dwelling units.

 

“Multifamily mortgage credit book of business” refers to the sum of the unpaid principal balance of: (1) the multifamily mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (2) the Fannie Mae MBS and non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities backed by multifamily mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (3) Fannie Mae MBS backed by multifamily mortgage loans that are held by third parties; and (4) credit enhancements that we provide on multifamily mortgage assets.

 

“Negative-amortizing loan” refers to a mortgage loan that allows the borrower to make monthly payments that are less than the interest actually accrued for the period. The unpaid interest is added to the principal balance of the loan, which increases the outstanding loan balance. Negative-amortizing loans are typically adjustable-rate mortgage loans.

 

“Notional principal amount” refers to the hypothetical dollar amount in an interest rate swap transaction on which exchanged payments are based. The notional principal amount in an interest rate swap transaction generally is not paid or received by either party to the transaction and is typically significantly greater than the potential market or credit loss that could result from such transaction.

 

“OFHEO” refers to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, our safety and soundness regulator.

 

“Option-adjusted spread” or “OAS” refers to the incremental expected return between a security, loan or derivative contract and a benchmark yield curve (typically, U.S. Treasury securities, LIBOR and swaps, or agency debt securities). The OAS provides explicit consideration of the variability in the security’s cash flows across multiple interest rate scenarios resulting from any options embedded in the security, such as prepayment options. For example, the OAS of a mortgage that can be prepaid by the homeowner is typically lower than a nominal yield spread to the same benchmark because the OAS reflects the exercise of the prepayment option by the homeowner, which lowers the expected return of the mortgage investor. In other words, OAS for mortgage loans is a risk-adjusted spread after consideration of the prepayment risk in mortgage loans. The market convention for mortgages is typically to quote their OAS to swaps. The OASs of our funding and hedging instruments are also frequently quoted to swaps. The OAS of our net assets is therefore the combination of these two spreads to swaps and is the option-adjusted spread between our assets and our funding and hedging instruments.

 

“Outstanding Fannie Mae MBS” refers to the total unpaid principal balance of Fannie Mae MBS that is held by third-party investors and held in our mortgage portfolio, without reflecting the impact of the consolidation of variable interest entities.

 

“Private-label issuers” or “non-agency issuers” refers to issuers of mortgage-related securities other than agency issuers Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae.

 

“Private-label securities” or “non-agency securities” refers to mortgage-related securities issued by entities other than agency issuers Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae.

 

“Qualifying subordinated debt” refers to our subordinated debt that contains an interest deferral feature that requires us to defer the payment of interest for up to five years if either: (1) our core capital is below 125% of our critical capital requirement; or (2) our core capital is below our minimum capital requirement and the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, acting on our request, exercises his or her discretionary authority pursuant to Section 304(c) of the Charter Act to purchase our debt obligations.

 

“REO” refers to real-estate owned by Fannie Mae, generally because we have foreclosed on the property or obtained the property through a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

 

“Reverse mortgage” refers to a financial tool that provides seniors with funds from the equity in their homes. Generally, no borrower payments are made on a reverse mortgage until the borrower moves or the property is sold. The final repayment obligation is designed not to exceed the proceeds from the sale of the home.

 

“Risk-based capital requirement” refers to the amount of capital necessary to absorb losses throughout a hypothetical ten-year period marked by severely adverse circumstances. Refer to “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity

and Capital Management—Capital Management—Capital Adequacy Requirements—Statutory Risk-Based Capital Requirements” for a detailed definition of our statutory risk-based capital requirement.

 

“Secondary mortgage market” refers to the financial market in which residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities are bought and sold.

 

“Single-family” mortgage loan refers to a mortgage loan secured by a property containing four or fewer residential dwelling units.

 

“Single-family mortgage credit book of business” refers to the sum of the unpaid principal balance of: (1) the single-family mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (2) the Fannie Mae MBS and non-Fannie Mae mortgage-related securities backed by single-family mortgage loans we hold in our investment portfolio; (3) Fannie Mae MBS backed by single-family mortgage loans that are held by third parties; and (4) credit enhancements that we provide on single-family mortgage assets.

 

“Sub-prime mortgage” refers to a mortgage loan underwritten using lower credit standards than those used in the prime lending market.

 

“Swaptions” refers to options on interest rate swaps in the form of contracts granting an option to one party and creating a corresponding commitment from the counterparty to enter into specified interest rate swaps in the future. Swaptions are usually traded in the over-the-counter market and not through an exchange.

 

“Total capital” refers to a regulatory measure of our capital that represents the sum of core capital plus the total allowance for loan losses and reserve for guaranty losses in connection with Fannie Mae MBS, less the specific loss allowance (that is, the allowance required on individually-impaired loans).

 

“Yield curve” or “shape of the yield curve” refers to a graph showing the relationship between the yields on bonds of the same credit quality with different maturities. For example, a “normal” or positive sloping yield curve exists when long-term bonds have higher yields than short-term bonds. A “flat” yield curve exists when yields are relatively the same for short-term and long-term bonds. A “steep” yield curve exists when yields on long-term bonds are significantly higher than on short-term bonds. An “inverted” yield curve, which is rare, exists when yields on long-term bonds are lower than yields on short-term bonds.

 

This section identifies specific risks that should be considered carefully in evaluating our business. The risks described in “Company Risks” are specific to us and our business, while those described in “Risks Relating to Our Industry” relate to the industry in which we operate. Any of these risks could adversely affect our business, results of operations or financial condition. Although we believe that these risks represent the material risks relevant to us, our business and our industry, new material risks may emerge that we are currently unable to predict. As a result, this description of the risks that affect our business and our industry is not exhaustive. The risks discussed below could cause our actual results to differ materially from our historical results or the results contemplated by the forward-looking statements contained in this report.

 

COMPANY RISKS

 

Material weaknesses and other control deficiencies relating to our internal controls could result in errors in our reported results and could have a material adverse effect on our operations, investor confidence in our business and the trading prices of our securities.

 

Management’s assessment of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2004 identified numerous material weaknesses in our control environment, our application of GAAP, our financial reporting process, and our information technology applications and infrastructure as of December 31, 2004. Further, we identified additional material weaknesses in the independent model review process, treasury and trading operations, pricing and independent price verification processes, and wire transfer controls. In addition, following their separate investigations of our business and accounting practices, OFHEO and the law firm of Paul Weiss each issued reports identifying significant problems and deficiencies in our prior processes for corporate governance and internal controls. Until they are remediated, these material weaknesses and other

control deficiencies could lead to errors in our reported financial results and could have a material adverse effect on our operations, investor confidence in our business and the trading prices of our securities.

 

As described in “Item 9A—Controls and Procedures—Remediation Activities and Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting,” we are currently in the process of remediating our identified material weaknesses; however, management will not make a final determination that we have completed our remediation of these material weaknesses until we have completed testing of our newly implemented internal controls. In addition, we have not filed our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for 2005 or 2006, or our Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2005, and we are not able at this time to file our periodic SEC reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K on a timely basis. We believe that we will not have remediated the material weakness relating to our disclosure controls and procedures until we are able to file required reports with the SEC and the New York Stock Exchange on a timely basis.

 

In the future, we may identify further material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that we have not discovered to date. In addition, we cannot be certain that we will be able to maintain adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future.

 

Competition in the mortgage and financial services industries, and the need to develop, enhance and implement strategies to adapt to changing trends in the mortgage industry and capital markets, may adversely affect our business and earnings.

 

Increasing Competition.  We compete to acquire mortgage loans for our mortgage portfolio or for securitization based on a number of factors, including our speed and reliability in closing transactions, our products and services, the liquidity of Fannie Mae MBS, our reputation and our pricing. We face increasing competition in the secondary mortgage market from other GSEs and from large commercial banks, savings and loan institutions, securities dealers, investment funds, insurance companies and other financial institutions. In addition, increasing consolidation within the financial services industry has created larger private financial institutions, which has increased pricing pressure. The recent decreased rate of growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding in 2006 also has increased competition in the secondary mortgage market by decreasing the number of new mortgage loans available for purchase. This increased competition may adversely affect our business and earnings.

 

Potential Decrease in Earnings Resulting from Changes in Industry Trends.  The manner in which we compete and the products for which we compete are affected by changing trends in our industry. If we do not effectively respond to these trends, or if our strategies to respond to these trends are not as successful as our prior business strategies, our business, earnings and total returns could be adversely affected. For example, in recent years, an increasing proportion of single-family mortgage loan originations has consisted of non-traditional mortgages such as interest-only mortgages, negative-amortizing mortgages and sub-prime mortgages, and demand for traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgages has decreased. We did not participate in large amounts of these non-traditional mortgages in 2004 and 2005 because we determined that the pricing offered for these mortgages often was insufficient compensation for the additional credit risk associated with these mortgages. These trends and our decision not to participate in large amounts of these non-traditional mortgages contributed to a significant loss in our share of new single-family mortgage-related securities issuances to private-label issuers during this period, with our market share decreasing from 45.0% in 2003 to 29.2% in 2004 and 23.5% in 2005.

 

We have modified and enhanced a number of our strategies as part of our ongoing efforts to adapt to recent changes in the industry. For example, our Capital Markets group focused on buying and holding mortgage assets to maturity prior to 2005. Beginning in 2005, however, in response to both our capital plan requirements and market conditions at that time, our Capital Markets group engaged in more active management of our portfolio through both purchases and sales of mortgage assets, with the dual goals of supporting our chartered purpose of providing liquidity to the secondary mortgage market and maximizing total returns. In addition, we have been working with our lender customers to support a broad range of mortgage products, including sub-prime products, while closely monitoring credit risk and pricing dynamics across the full spectrum of mortgage product types. We may not be able to execute successfully any new or enhanced strategies that we adopt. In

addition, these strategies may not increase our share of the secondary mortgage market, our revenues or our total returns.

 

The restatement of our consolidated financial statements and related events, including the lack of current financial and operating information about the company, have had, and likely will continue to have, a material adverse effect on our business and reputation.

 

We have become subject to several significant risks since our announcement in December 2004 that we would restate our previously filed consolidated financial statements. This Annual Report on Form 10-K, which contains information for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002, includes restated consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2003 and 2002, and is our first periodic report covering periods after June 30, 2004. Our need to restate our historical financial statements and the delay in producing both restated and more current consolidated financial statements has resulted in several risks to our business, as discussed in the following paragraphs.

 

Risks Relating to Lack of Current Information about our Business.  Material information about our current operating results and financial condition is unavailable because of the delay in filing our 2005 and 2006 annual and quarterly reports with the SEC. As a result, investors do not have access to full information about the current state of our business. When this information becomes available to investors, it may result in an adverse effect on the trading price of our common stock.

 

Risks Relating to Suspension and Delisting of Our Securities from the NYSE.  The delay in filing our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2005 with the SEC could cause the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, to commence suspension and delisting proceedings of our common stock. In addition, we expect that we will not be able to file our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 by its due date of March 1, 2007, which would be a separate violation of the NYSE’s listing rules. If the NYSE were to delist our common stock it could result in a significant decline in the trading price, trading volume and liquidity of our common stock and could have a similar effect on our preferred stock listed on the NYSE. We also expect that the suspension and delisting of our common stock could lead to decreases in analyst coverage and market-making activity relating to our common stock, as well as reduced information about trading prices and volume.

 

Risks Associated with Pending Civil Litigation.  We are subject to pending civil litigation that, if decided against us, could require us to pay substantial judgments or settlement amounts or provide for other relief, as discussed in “Item 3—Legal Proceedings.”

 

Reputational Risks and Other Risks Relating to Negative Publicity.  We have been subject to continuing negative publicity as a result of our accounting restatement and related problems, which we believe have contributed to significant declines in the price of our common stock. Continuing negative publicity could increase our cost of funds and adversely affect our customer relationships and the trading price of our stock. Negative publicity associated with our accounting restatement and related problems also has resulted in increased regulatory and legislative scrutiny of our business.

 

Decrease in Common Stock Dividends and Limitation on Our Ability to Increase Our Dividend Payments.  In January 2005, in an effort to accelerate our achievement of a 30% capital surplus over our minimum capital requirement as required by OFHEO, we reduced our previous quarterly common stock dividend rate by 50%, from $0.52 per share to $0.26 per share. Under our May 2006 consent order with OFHEO, we are required to continue to operate under the capital restoration plan approved by OFHEO in February 2005. Our consent order with OFHEO also requires us to provide OFHEO with prior notice of any planned dividend and a description of the rationale for its payment. In addition, our Board of Directors is not permitted to increase the dividend at any time if payment of the increased dividend would reduce our capital surplus to less than 30% above our minimum capital requirement. On December 6, 2006, the Board of Directors increased the quarterly common stock dividend to $0.40 per share.

Changes in interest rates could materially impact our financial condition and our earnings.

 

We fund our operations primarily through the issuance of debt and invest our funds primarily in mortgage-related assets that permit the mortgage borrowers to prepay the mortgages at any time. These business activities expose us to market risk, which is the risk of loss from adverse changes in market conditions. Our most significant market risks are interest rate risk and option-adjusted spread risk. Interest rate risk is the risk of changes in our long-term earnings or in the value of our net assets due to changes in interest rates. Changes in interest rates affect both the value of our mortgage assets and prepayment rates on our mortgage loans. Changes in interest rates could have a material adverse impact on our business results and financial condition, particularly if actual conditions differ significantly from our expectations.

 

Our ability to manage interest rate risk depends on our ability to issue debt instruments with a range of maturities and other features at attractive rates and to engage in derivative transactions. We must exercise judgment in selecting the amount, type and mix of debt and derivative instruments that will most effectively manage our interest rate risk. The amount, type and mix of financial instruments we select may not offset possible future changes in the spread between our borrowing costs and the interest we earn on our mortgage assets. A discussion of how we manage interest rate risk is included in “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Interest Rate Risk Management and Other Market Risks.”

 

Option-adjusted spread risk is the risk that the option-adjusted spreads on mortgage assets relative to those on our funding and hedging instruments (referred to as the OAS of our net assets) may increase or decrease. These increases or decreases may be a result of market supply and demand dynamics, including credit pricing basis risk between our assets and swaps and between swaps and our funding and hedging instruments. A widening of the OAS of our net assets typically causes a decline in the fair value of the company. A narrowing of the OAS of our net assets will reduce our opportunities to acquire mortgage assets and therefore could have a material adverse effect on our future earnings and financial condition. We do not attempt to actively manage or hedge the impact of changes in mortgage-to-debt OAS after we purchase mortgage assets, other than through asset monitoring and disposition.

 

We make significant use of business and financial models to manage risk, although we recognize that models are inherently imperfect predictors of actual results because they are based on assumptions about factors such as future loan demand, prepayment speeds and other factors that may overstate or understate future experience. Our business could be adversely affected if our models fail to produce reliable results.

 

We have several key lender customers and the loss of business volume from any one of these customers could adversely affect our business, market share and results of operations.

 

Our ability to generate revenue from the purchase and securitization of mortgage loans depends on our ability to acquire a steady flow of mortgage loans from the originators of those loans. We acquire a significant portion of our single-family mortgage loans from several large mortgage lenders. During 2004, our top five lender customers accounted for a total of approximately 53% of our single-family business volumes (which refers to both single-family mortgage loans that we purchase for our mortgage portfolio and single-family mortgage loans that we securitize into Fannie Mae MBS), with our top customer accounting for approximately 26% of that amount. Accordingly, maintaining our current business relationships and business volumes with our top lender customers is critical to our business. If any of our key lender customers significantly reduces the volume of mortgage loans that the lender delivers to us, we could lose significant business volume that we might be unable to replace. The loss of business from any one of our key lender customers could adversely affect our business, market share and results of operations. In addition, a significant reduction in the volume of mortgage loans that we securitize could reduce the liquidity of Fannie Mae MBS, which in turn could have an adverse effect on their market value.

 

We are subject to credit risk relating to the mortgage loans that we purchase or that back our Fannie Mae MBS, and any resulting delinquencies and credit losses could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

 

Borrowers of mortgage loans that we purchase or that back our Fannie Mae MBS may fail to make the required payments of principal and interest on those loans, exposing us to the risk of credit losses. In addition,

due to the current competitive dynamics of the mortgage market, we have recently increased our purchase and securitization of mortgage loans that pose a higher credit risk, such as negative-amortizing loans and interest-only loans. We also have increased the proportion of reduced documentation loans that we purchase or that back our Fannie Mae MBS.

 

For example, negative-amortizing adjustable-rate mortgages (“ARMs”) represented approximately 2% and 3%, respectively, of our conventional single-family business volumes (which refers to both conventional single-family mortgage loans we purchase for our mortgage portfolio and conventional single-family mortgage loans we securitize into Fannie Mae MBS) in 2004 and 2005, and approximately 4% for the first nine months of 2006. Interest-only mortgage loans represented approximately 5% and 10%, respectively, of our conventional single-family business volumes in 2004 and 2005, and approximately 15% for the first nine months of 2006. We estimate that negative-amortizing ARMs and interest-only loans represented approximately 2% and 6%, respectively, of our conventional single-family mortgage credit book of business as of September 30, 2006.

 

The increase in our exposure to credit risk resulting from the increase in these loans with higher credit risk may cause us to experience increased delinquencies and credit losses in the future, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. A discussion of how we manage mortgage credit risk and a description of the risk characteristics of our mortgage credit book of business is included in “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management—Mortgage Credit Risk Management.”

 

We depend on our institutional counterparties to provide services that are critical to our business, and our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected by defaults by our institutional counterparties.

 

We face the risk that our institutional counterparties may fail to fulfill their contractual obligations to us. Our primary exposure to institutional counterparties risk is with our mortgage insurers, mortgage servicers, lender customers, issuers of investments held in our liquid investment portfolio, dealers that commit to sell mortgage pools or loans to us, and derivatives counterparties. The products or services that these counterparties provide are critical to our business operations and a default by a counterparty with significant obligations to us could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. A discussion of how we manage institutional counterparty credit risk is included in “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management—Institutional Counterparty Credit Risk Management.”

 

Mortgage Insurers.  A mortgage insurer could fail to fulfill its obligation to reimburse us for claims under our mortgage insurance policies, which would require us to bear the full loss of the borrower default on the mortgage loans. As of December 31, 2004, we were the beneficiary of primary mortgage insurance coverage on $285.4 billion of single-family loans held in our portfolio or underlying Fannie Mae MBS, which represented approximately 13% of our single-family mortgage credit book of business.

 

Lender Risk-Sharing Agreements.  We enter into risk-sharing agreements with some of our lender customers that require them to reimburse us for losses under the loans that are the subject of those agreements. A lender’s default in its obligation to reimburse us could decrease our net income.

 

Mortgage Servicers.  One or more of our mortgage servicers could fail to fulfill its mortgage loan servicing obligations, which include collecting payments from borrowers under the mortgage loans that we own or that are part of the collateral pools supporting our Fannie Mae MBS, paying taxes and insurance on the properties secured by the mortgage loans, monitoring and reporting loan delinquencies, and repurchasing any loans that are subsequently found to have not met our underwriting criteria. In that event, we could incur credit losses associated with loan delinquencies or penalties for late payment of taxes and insurance on the properties that secure the mortgage loans serviced by that mortgage servicer. In addition, we likely would be forced to incur the costs necessary to replace the defaulting mortgage servicer. These events would result in a decrease in our net income. As of December 31, 2004, our ten largest single-family mortgage servicers serviced 71% of our single-family mortgage credit book of business, and the largest single-family mortgage servicer serviced 21% of the single-family mortgage credit book of business. Accordingly, the effect of a default by one of these servicers could result in a more significant decrease in our net income than if our loans were serviced by a more diverse group of servicers.

Agreements with Dealers.  We enter into agreements with dealers under which they commit to deliver pools of mortgages to us at an agreed-upon date and price. We commit to sell Fannie Mae MBS based in part on these commitments. If a dealer defaults in its commitment obligation, it could cause us to default in our obligation to deliver the Fannie Mae MBS on our commitment date or may force us to replace the loans at a higher cost in order to meet our commitment.

 

Liquid Investment Portfolio Issuers.  The primary credit exposure associated with investments held in our liquid investment portfolio is that the issuers of these investments will not repay principal and interest in accordance with the contractual terms. The failure of these issuers to make these payments could have a material adverse effect on our business results.

 

Derivatives Counterparties.  If a derivatives counterparty defaults on payments due to us, we may need to enter into a replacement derivative contract with a different counterparty at a higher cost or we may be unable to obtain a replacement contract. As of December 31, 2004, we had 23 interest rate and foreign currency derivatives counterparties. Eight of these counterparties accounted for approximately 83% of the total outstanding notional amount of our derivatives contracts, and each of these eight counterparties accounted for between approximately 7% and 14% of the total outstanding notional amount. The insolvency of one of our largest derivatives counterparties combined with an adverse move in the market before we are able to transfer or replace the contracts could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. A discussion of how we manage the credit risk posed by our derivatives transactions and a detailed description of our derivatives credit exposure is contained in “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Credit Risk Management—Institutional Counterparty Credit Risk Management—Derivatives Counterparties.”

 

Our ability to operate our business, meet our obligations and generate net interest income depends primarily on our ability to issue substantial amounts of debt frequently and at attractive rates.

 

The issuance of short-term and long-term debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets is our primary source of funding for purchasing assets for our mortgage portfolio and repaying or refinancing our existing debt. Moreover, our primary source of revenue is the net interest income we earn from the difference, or spread, between our borrowing costs and the return that we receive on our mortgage assets. Our ability to obtain funds through the issuance of debt, and the cost at which we are able to obtain these funds, depends on many factors, including:

 

 

In addition, the other GSEs, such as Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks, also issue significant amounts of AAA-rated agency debt to fund their operations, which may negatively impact the prices we are able to obtain for these securities.

 

Approximately 47% of the Benchmark Notes we have issued in 2006 were purchased by non-U.S. investors, including both private institutions and non-U.S. governments and government agencies. Accordingly, a significant reduction in the purchase of our debt securities by non-U.S. investors could have a material adverse effect on both the amount of debt securities we are able to issue and the price we are able to obtain for these securities. Many of the factors that affect the amount of our securities that foreign investors purchase, including economic

downturns in the countries where these investors are located, currency exchange rates and changes in domestic or foreign fiscal or monetary policies, are outside our control.

 

If we are unable to issue debt securities at attractive rates in amounts sufficient to operate our business and meet our obligations, it would have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. A description of how we obtain funding for our business by issuing debt securities in the capital markets is contained in “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Liquidity—Debt Funding.” For a description of how we manage liquidity risk, see ‘‘Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Liquidity—Liquidity Risk Management.”

 

On June 13, 2006, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it would undertake a review of its process for approving our issuances of debt, which could adversely impact our flexibility in issuing debt securities in the future. We cannot predict whether the outcome of this review will materially impact our current business activities.

 

A decrease in our current credit ratings would have an adverse effect on our ability to issue debt on acceptable terms, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our results of operations.

 

Our borrowing costs and our broad access to the debt capital markets depends in large part on our high credit ratings. Our senior unsecured debt currently has the highest credit rating available from Moody’s Investors Service (“Moody’s”), Standard & Poor’s, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies (“Standard & Poor’s”), and Fitch Ratings (“Fitch”). These ratings are subject to revision or withdrawal at any time by the rating agencies. Any reduction in our credit ratings could increase our borrowing costs, limit our access to the capital markets and trigger additional collateral requirements in derivative contracts and other borrowing arrangements. A substantial reduction in our credit ratings would reduce our earnings and materially adversely affect our liquidity, our ability to conduct our normal business operations and our competitive position. A description of our credit ratings and current ratings outlook is included in “Item 7—MD&A—Liquidity and Capital Management—Liquidity—Credit Ratings and Risk Ratings.”

 

Our business is subject to laws and regulations that may restrict our ability to compete optimally. In addition, legislation that would change the regulation of our business could, if enacted, reduce our competitiveness and adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. The impact of existing regulation on our business is significant, and both existing and future regulation may adversely affect our business.

 

As a federally chartered corporation, we are subject to the limitations imposed by the Charter Act, extensive regulation, supervision and examination by OFHEO and HUD, and regulation by other federal agencies, such as the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the SEC. We are also subject to many laws and regulations that affect our business, including those regarding taxation and privacy. A description of the laws and regulations that affect our business is contained in “Item 1—Business—Our Charter and Regulation of Our Activities.”

 

Regulation by OFHEO.  OFHEO has broad authority to regulate our operations and management in order to ensure our financial safety and soundness. For example, in order to meet our capital plan requirements in 2005, we were required to make significant changes to our business in 2005, including reducing the size of our mortgage portfolio and reducing our quarterly common stock dividend by 50%. Pursuant to our May 2006 consent order with OFHEO, we may not increase our net mortgage portfolio assets above $727.75 billion, except in limited circumstances at OFHEO’s discretion. We expect that this reduction in the size of our mortgage portfolio beginning in 2005 will contribute to significantly reduced net interest income for the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2006, as compared to the years ended December 31, 2004 and 2003. In addition, we have incurred and expect to continue to incur significant administrative expenses in connection with complying with our remediation obligations, which will reduce our earnings for the years ended December 31, 2005 and 2006. If we fail to comply with any of our agreements with OFHEO or with any OFHEO regulation, we may incur penalties and could be subject to further restrictions on our activities and operations, or to investigation and enforcement actions by OFHEO.

 

Regulation by HUD and Charter Act Limitations.  HUD supervises our compliance with the Charter Act, which defines our permissible business activities. For example, our business is limited to the U.S. housing finance sector and we may not purchase loans in excess of our conforming loan limits, which are currently $417,000 for a one-family mortgage loan in most geographic regions and may be lower in future periods

subsequent to 2007. As a result of these limitations on our ability to diversify our operations, our financial condition and earnings depend almost entirely on conditions in a single sector of the U.S. economy, specifically, the U.S. housing market. Our substantial reliance on conditions in the U.S. housing market may adversely affect the investment returns we are able to generate. In addition, the Secretary of HUD must approve any new Fannie Mae conventional mortgage program that is significantly different from those approved or engaged in prior to the enactment of the 1992 Act. As a result, we have only limited ability to respond quickly to changes in market conditions by offering new programs in response to these changes. These restrictions on our business operations may negatively affect our ability to compete successfully with other companies in the mortgage industry from time to time, which in turn may adversely affect our market share, our earnings and our financial condition. As described below under “To meet HUD’s new housing goals and subgoals, we enter into transactions that may reduce our profitability,” we are also subject to housing goals established by HUD, which require that a specified portion of our business relate to the purchase or securitization of mortgages for low- and moderate-income housing, underserved areas and special affordable housing. Meeting these goals may adversely affect our profitability.

 

Legislative Proposals.  Legislative proposals currently being considered by the U.S. Congress, if enacted into law, could materially restrict our operations and adversely affect our business and our earnings. During 2005, several bills were introduced in Congress that propose to change the regulatory framework under which we, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks operate. The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs and the U.S. House of Representatives each advanced GSE regulatory oversight legislation in 2005 during the first session of the 109th Congress. On October 26, 2005, the House of Representatives passed a bill and on July 28, 2005, the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs passed a bill, which has not yet been brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote. While the House and Senate bills differ in a number of respects, both bills would affect us and other GSEs by significantly altering the scope of:

 

 

In addition, the House bill would require Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to contribute a portion of their profits to a fund to support affordable housing.

 

This legislation could materially adversely affect our business and earnings. We cannot predict the prospects for the enactment, timing or content of any legislation, the form any enacted legislation will take or its impact on our financial condition or results of operations.

 

Changes in Existing Regulations or Regulatory Practices.  Our business and earnings could also be materially affected by changes in the regulation of our business made by any one or more of our existing regulators. A regulator may change its current process for regulating our business, change its current interpretations of our regulatory requirements or exercise regulatory authority over our business beyond current practices, and any of these changes could have a material adverse effect on our business and earnings. For example, on June 13, 2006, HUD announced that it will conduct a review of specified investments and holdings to determine whether our investment activities are consistent with our charter authority. We cannot predict the outcome of this review or whether HUD will seek to restrict our current business activities as a result of this or other reviews.

 

To meet HUD’s new housing goals and subgoals, we enter into transactions that may reduce our profitability.

 

As part of our mission of increasing the availability and affordability of financing for residential mortgage loans in the United States, we must comply with the housing goals and subgoals established by HUD. HUD’s housing goals require that a specified portion of our business relate to the purchase or securitization of

mortgage loans serving low- and moderate-income households, households in underserved areas and households qualifying under the definition of special affordable housing. HUD has increased our housing goals for 2005 through 2008, and has created new purchase money mortgage subgoals effective beginning in 2005 that also increase over the 2005 to 2008 period.

 

Meeting the increased housing goals and subgoals established by HUD for 2006 and future years may reduce our profitability and compete with our goal of maximizing total returns. In order to obtain business that contributes to our new housing goals and subgoals, we have made, and continue to make, significant adjustments to our mortgage loan sourcing and purchase strategies. These strategies include entering into some purchase and securitization transactions with lower expected economic returns than our typical transactions. We have also relaxed some of our underwriting criteria to obtain goals-qualifying mortgage loans and increased our investments in higher-risk mortgage loan products that are more likely to serve the borrowers targeted by HUD’s goals and subgoals, which could increase our credit losses.

 

The specific housing goals and subgoals levels for 2005 through 2008, as well as our performance against these goals in 2005, are described in “Item 1—Business—Our Charter and Regulation of Our Activities—Regulation and Oversight of Our Activities—HUD Regulation—Housing Goals.” We did not meet one of our 2005 subgoals, and it is possible that we may not meet one or more of our 2006 subgoals. Meeting the higher subgoals for 2006 is particularly challenging because increased home prices and higher interest rates have reduced housing affordability. Since HUD set the home purchase subgoals in 2004, the affordable housing markets have experienced a dramatic change. Newly-released Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data show that the share of the primary mortgage market serving low- and moderate-income borrowers declined in 2005, reducing our ability to purchase and securitize mortgage loans that meet the HUD subgoals. If our efforts to meet the new housing goals and subgoals in 2006 and future years prove to be insufficient, we may need to take additional steps that could increase our credit losses and reduce our profitability.

 

Our business faces significant operational risks and an operational failure could materially adversely affect our business.

 

Shortcomings or failures in our internal processes, people or systems could have a material adverse effect on our risk management, liquidity, financial condition and results of operations; disrupt our business; and result in legislative or regulatory intervention, damage to our reputation and liability to customers. For example, our business is dependent on our ability to manage and process, on a daily basis, a large number of transactions across numerous and diverse markets. These transactions are subject to various legal and regulatory standards. We rely on the ability of our employees and our internal financial, accounting, data processing and other operating systems, as well as technological systems operated by third parties, to process these transactions and to manage our business. As a result of events that are wholly or partially beyond our control, these employees or third parties could engage in improper or unauthorized actions, or these systems could fail to operate properly. In the event of a breakdown in the operation of our or a third party’s systems, or improper actions by employees or third parties, we could experience financial losses, business disruptions, legal and regulatory sanctions, and reputational damage.

 

Because we use a process of delegated underwriting for the single-family mortgage loans we purchase and securitize, we do not independently verify most borrower information that is provided to us. This exposes us to mortgage fraud risk, which is the risk that one or more parties involved in a transaction (the borrower, seller, broker, appraiser, title agent, lender or servicer) will misrepresent the facts about a mortgage loan. We may experience financial losses and reputational damage as a result of mortgage fraud.

 

In addition, our operations rely on the secure processing, storage and transmission of a large volume of private borrower information, such as names, residential addresses, social security numbers, credit rating data and other consumer financial information. Despite the protective measures we take to reduce the likelihood of information breaches, this information could be exposed in several ways, including through unauthorized access to our computer systems, computer viruses that attack our computer systems, software or networks, accidental delivery of information to an unauthorized party and loss of unencrypted media containing this information. Any of these events could result in significant financial losses, legal and regulatory sanctions, and reputational damage.

The occurrence of a major natural or other disaster in the United States could increase our delinquency rates and credit losses or disrupt our business operations and lead to financial losses.

 

The occurrence of a major natural disaster, terrorist attack or health epidemic in the United States could increase our delinquency rates and credit losses in the affected region or regions, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. For example, we experienced an increase in our delinquency rates and credit losses as a result of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In addition, as of December 31, 2004, approximately 18% of the gross unpaid principal balance of the conventional single-family loans we held or securitized in Fannie Mae MBS and approximately 28% of the gross unpaid principal balance of the multifamily loans we held or securitized in Fannie Mae MBS were concentrated in California. Due to this geographic concentration in California, a major earthquake or other disaster in that state could lead to significant increases in delinquency rates and credit losses.

 

Despite the contingency plans and facilities that we have in place, our ability to conduct business also may be adversely affected by a disruption in the infrastructure that supports our business and the communities in which we are located. Potential disruptions may include those involving electrical, communications, transportation and other services we use or that are provided to us. Substantially all of our senior management and investment personnel work out of our offices in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. If a disruption occurs and our senior management or other employees are unable to occupy our offices, communicate with other personnel or travel to other locations, our ability to service and interact with each other and with our customers may suffer, and we may not be successful in implementing contingency plans that depend on communication or travel. A description of our disaster recovery plans and facilities in the event of a disruption of this type is included in “Item 7—MD&A—Risk Management—Operational Risk Management.”

 

In many cases, our accounting policies and methods, which are fundamental to how we report our financial condition and results of operations, require management to make estimates and rely on the use of models about matters that are inherently uncertain.

 

Our accounting policies and methods are fundamental to how we record and report our financial condition and results of operations. Our management must exercise judgment in applying many of these accounting policies and methods so that these policies and methods comply with GAAP and reflect management’s judgment of the most appropriate manner to report our financial condition and results of operations. In some cases, management must select the appropriate accounting policy or method from two or more alternatives, any of which might be reasonable under the circumstances but might affect the amount of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses that we report. See “Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements—Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” for a description of our significant accounting policies.

 

We have identified the following four accounting policies as critical to the presentation of our financial condition and results of operations:

 

 

We believe these policies are critical because they require management to make particularly subjective or complex judgments about matters that are inherently uncertain and because of the likelihood that materially different amounts would be reported under different conditions or using different assumptions. Due to the complexity of these critical accounting policies, our accounting methods relating to these policies involve substantial use of models. Models are inherently imperfect predictors of actual results because they are based on assumptions, including assumptions about future events, and actual results could differ significantly. More information about these policies is included in “Item 7—MD&A—Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates.”

We are subject to pending civil litigation that, if decided against us, could require us to pay substantial judgments, settlements or other penalties.

 

A number of lawsuits have been filed against us and certain of our current and former officers and directors relating to our accounting restatement. These suits are currently pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and fall within three primary categories: a consolidated shareholder class action lawsuit, a consolidated shareholder derivative lawsuit and a consolidated Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”)-based class action lawsuit. We may be required to pay substantial judgments, settlements or other penalties and incur significant expenses in connection with the consolidated shareholder class action and consolidated ERISA-based class action, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and cash flows. In addition, our current and former directors, officers and employees may be entitled to reimbursement for the costs and expenses of these lawsuits pursuant to our indemnification obligations with those persons. We are also a party to several other lawsuits that, if decided against us, could require us to pay substantial judgments, settlements or other penalties. These include a proposed class action lawsuit alleging violations of federal and state antitrust laws and state consumer protection laws in connection with the setting of our guaranty fees and a proposed class action lawsuit alleging that we violated purported fiduciary duties with respect to certain escrow accounts for FHA-insured multifamily mortgage loans. We are unable at this time to estimate our potential liability in these matters. We expect all of these lawsuits to be time-consuming, and they may divert management’s attention and resources from our ordinary business operations. More information regarding these lawsuits is included in “Item 3—Lega