For purposes of this subpart A, the following definitions shall apply:

Affiliate means any entity that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with, an Enterprise, except as otherwise provided by the Director.

Commitment means any contractual, legally binding agreement that obligates an Enterprise to purchase or to securitize mortgages.

Core Capital—(1) Means the sum of (as determined in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles)—

(i) The par or stated value of outstanding common stock;

(ii) The par or stated value of outstanding perpetual, noncumulative preferred stock;

(iii) Paid-in capital; and

(iv) Retained earnings; and

(2) Does not include debt instruments or any amounts the Enterprise could be required to pay at the option of an investor to retire capital instruments.

Director means the Director of OFHEO.

Enterprise means the Federal National Mortgage Association and any affiliate thereof or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation and any affiliate thereof.

Foreign exchange rate contracts

(1) Means cross-currency interest rate swaps, forward foreign exchange contracts, currency options purchased (including currency options purchased over-the-counter), and any other instrument that gives rise to similar credit risks; and

(2) Does not mean foreign exchange rate contracts with an original maturity of 14 calendar days or less and foreign exchange rate contracts traded on exchanges that require daily payment of variation margins.

Interest rate contracts—

(1) Means single currency interest rate swaps, basis swaps, forward rate agreements, interest rate options purchased (including caps, collars, and floors purchased), over-the-counter options purchased, and any other instrument that gives rise to similar credit risks (including when-issued securities and forward deposits accepted); and

(2) Does not mean such instruments traded on exchanges that require daily payment of variation margins.

Mortgage-backed security means a security, investment, or substantially equivalent instrument that represents an interest in a pool of loans secured by mortgages or deeds of trust where the principal or interest payments to the investor in the security or substantially equivalent instrument are guaranteed or effectively guaranteed by an Enterprise.

Multifamily credit enhancement means any guarantee, pledge, purchase arrangement, or other obligation or commitment provided or entered into by an Enterprise with respect to multifamily mortgages to provide credit enhancement, liquidity, interest rate support, and other guarantees and enhancements for revenue bonds issued by a state or local governmental unit (including a housing finance agency) or other bond issuer.

1992 Act means the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, found at title XIII of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1992, Pub. L. 102-550, 12 U.S.C. 4501 et seq.

Notional amount means the face value of the underlying financial instrument(s) on which an interest rate or foreign exchange rate contract is based.

Off-balance sheet obligation means a binding agreement, contract, or similar arrangement that requires or may require future payment(s) in money or kind by another party to an Enterprise, or that effectively guarantees all or part of such payment(s) to third parties (including commitments), where such agreement or contract is a source of credit risk that is not included on its balance sheet.

OFHEO means the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

Other off-balance sheet obligations means all off-balance sheet obligations of an Enterprise that are not mortgage-backed securities or substantially equivalent instruments and that are not resecuritized mortgage-backed securities, such as real estate mortgage investment conduits or similar resecuritized instruments.

Perpetual, noncumulative preferred stock means preferred stock that—

(1) Does not have a maturity date;

(2) Provides the issuer the ability and the legal right to eliminate dividends and does not permit the accruing or payment of impaired dividends;

(3) Cannot be redeemed at the option of the holder; and

(4) Has no other provisions that will require future redemption of the issue, in whole or in part, or that will reset the dividend periodically based, in whole or in part, on the Enterprise's current credit standing, such as auction rate, money market, or remarketable preferred stock, or that may cause the dividend to increase to a level that could create an incentive for the issuer to redeem the instrument, such as exploding rate stock.

Qualifying collateral means cash on deposit; securities issued or guaranteed by the central governments of the OECD-based group of countries,1 United States Government agencies, or United States Government-sponsored agencies; and securities issued by multilateral lending institutions or regional development banks.

1The OECD-based group of countries comprises full members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) regardless of entry date, as well as countries that have concluded special lending arrangements with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) associated with the IMF's General Arrangements to Borrow, but excludes any country that has rescheduled its external sovereign debt within the previous 5 years. A rescheduling of external sovereign debt generally would include any renegotiation of terms arising from a country's mobility or unwillingness to meet its external debt service obligations, but generally not include any renegotiation to allow the borrower to take advantage of a decline in interest rate or other change in market conditions. As of November 1995, the OECD countries included the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States; and Saudi Arabia has concluded special lending arrangements with the IMF associated with the IMF's General Arrangements to Borrow.


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