Federal Housing Finance Agency November 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Section 1209 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) amended section 26 of the Federal Home Loan Bank Act (Bank Act) to permit any Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) to merge with another Bank with the approval of its board of directors, its members, and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). This proposed rule would establish the conditions and procedures for the consideration and approval of voluntary Bank mergers.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) is proposing to re- organize and re-adopt existing Federal Housing Finance Board (Finance Board) regulations dealing with consolidated obligations (COs), as well as related regulations addressing other authorized Federal Home Loan Bank (Bank) liabilities and book-entry procedures for COs, as new part 1270 of the FHFA regulations. The proposed rule would also make changes to the regulations governing COs to reflect recent statutory amendments which removed authority from FHFA to issue COs on which the Banks are jointly and severally liable and provided this authority to the Banks themselves. Otherwise, FHFA is proposing to re-adopt most of the regulatory provisions addressed in this rulemaking without substantive amendment.