Building on controversial changes to Federal Home Loan Bank (FHLB) membership in 2016, FHFA is seeking views on additional changes to eligibility to ensure that the System fulfills its statutory mission safely and soundly. FHFA reads this mission narrowly even though the Trump Administration’s 2019 GSE-reform plan discussed FHLB membership in more generous terms. Although that report could have been read to suggest expanded membership that would increase the Home Loan Bank System’s role across the wholesale-funding market, FHFA’s request is premised on a far narrower set of principles that confine Banks to activities ensuring through-the-cycle housing-market liquidity, safe-and-sound housing finance, and community development.
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