The 12 Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBanks) are privately capitalized, government-sponsored enterprises. Unlike Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are publicly traded and owned, each FHLBank is a cooperative. In keeping with that cooperative business model, all capital stock in an FHLBank is owned by member institutions, which purchase stock from their FHLBank at par and the FHLBank repurchases or redeems stock from its members at par.
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999 (GLBA) established a new capital framework for the FHLBanks. All FHLBanks except Chicago have converted to that framework. The FHLBank of Chicago has not converted due principally to its financial difficulties. The GLBA did not specify a date by which each FHLBank had to complete its capital conversion.
Discussions about capital requirements are sometimes confusing because of the various alternative types of capital and capital requirements. This note provides a quick reference for the different measures of capital, the capital requirements, the capital classifications, and data for each FHLBank and for the system as a whole as of yearend 2005 through 2009.