Agency securities consist of single-family residential pass-through certificates and CMOs for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by a U.S. Government agency or U.S. Government-sponsored entity.
The agency securities that the Company intends to acquire provide funds for mortgage loans made to residential homeowners. These securities generally represent interests in pools of mortgage loans made by savings and loan institutions, mortgage bankers, commercial banks and other mortgage lenders. These pools of mortgage loans are assembled for sale to investors by various government, government-related or private organizations.
Agency securities differ from other forms of traditional debt securities, which normally provide for periodic payments of interest in fixed amounts with principal payments at maturity or on specified call dates. Instead, agency securities provide for a monthly payment, which consists of both interest and principal.
The investment characteristics of agency securities differ from those of traditional fixed-income securities. The major differences include the payment of interest and principal on the securities on a more frequent schedule and the possibility that principal may be prepaid at any time due to prepayments on the underlying mortgage loans or other assets.