Greater Attention to Risk Management, Mission, Public Purpose, And Corporate Governance Is Needed

By General Accounting Office

Description
Government Accountability Integrity Reliability Office Collection

Excerpt
Excerpt: Farmer Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), was established to provide a secondary market for agricultural real estate and rural housing loans and to increase agricultural mortgage credit. In 2003, GAO reported that several aspects of Farmer Mac?s financial risk management practices had not kept pace with its increasing risk profile. First, Farmer Mac had $3. billion in off-balance-sheet commitments and other agreements that could obligate it to buy the underlying loans or cover related losses under certain conditions. Farmer Mac and the Farm Credit System institutions that participate in the agreements are required to hold far less capital than is otherwise required. Because Farmer Mac?s loan activities are concentrated in a small number of financial institutions and in the West, the risk is not reduced while less capital is required to be held. Under stressful agricultural economic conditions, Farmer Mac could be required to purchase large amounts of impaired or defaulted loans if large amounts of the commitments were exercised. Second, the coverage of Farmer Mac?s $1.5 billion line of credit with the U.S. Treasury was controversial, as the entities disagreed on whether the securities it has issued and kept in its portfolio would be eligible. Third, GAO reported that while Farmer Mac had increased its mission-related activities since its 1999 report, their impact on the agricultural real estate market was unclear. The effects were difficult to measure partly because Farmer Mac?s statute lacks specific mission goals. For this and other reasons, GAO concluded that the public benefits derived from Farmer Mac?s activities are not clear. Finally, for profitability reasons, Farmer Mac had a strategy of holding securities it issued in its portfolio instead of selling them to investors in the capital markets. As a result, the depth and liquidity of the market for Farmer Mac?s securities is unknown.

Book Id: WPLBN0000117404
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 69.08 KB
Reproduction Date: 2005
Full Text

Title:

Greater Attention to Risk Management, Mission, Public Purpose, And Corporate Governance Is Needed

Author:

General Accounting Office

Volume:

Language:

English

Subject:

Government publications, Accountability in government, United States. General Accounting Office

Collection:

Government Accountability Integrity Reliability Office Collection

Subcollection:

Historic
Publication Date:

Publisher:

United States General Accounting Office (GAO)

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