FHLB Atlanta joins mortgage finance program
NEW YORK, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta said on Thursday it has joined a program that allows its banks, credit unions and other members to sell fixed-rate, conforming mortgages on the secondary market.
The FHLB Atlanta became the 10th regional bank in the Federal Home Loan Bank System, a federal housing finance agency, to participate in the Mortgage Partnership Finance (MPF) program, which was created in 1997 by the FHLB of Chicago.
Through the MPF's "Xtra" product, home loans made by members of a participating FHLB are bundled and sold to Fannie Mae , a sibling housing finance agency, at competitive rates, FHLB Atlanta said.
FHLB Atlanta is one of the larger district banks in the 12-member system that was created in 1932. At the end of 2013, it had nearly 1,000 members and $122.3 billion in assets.
All the district FHLBs provide "advances" or loans to their members to lend to homeowners or potential home buyers.
"With MPF Xtra, our shareholders, regardless of their size, can offer their customers the same competitively-priced loans and keep the option to sell or retain the servicing of those loans," FHLB Atlanta Executive Vice President and Chief Business Officer Robert Dozier said in a statement.
The other FHLBs in the MPF program are Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Des Moines, New York, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Seattle and Topeka.
(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Paul Simao)
