Financial Instruments with off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2023
Financial Instruments off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks
Financial Instruments with off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks	Note 23. Financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks In the normal course of business, the Company enters into transactions in various financial instruments that expose us to various types of risk, both on and off-balance sheet. Such risks are associated with financial instruments and markets in which the Company invests. These financial instruments expose us to varying degrees of market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, off-balance sheet risk and prepayment risk. Market Risk — Market risk is the potential adverse changes in the values of the financial instrument due to unfavorable changes in the level or volatility of interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, or market values of the underlying financial instruments. The Company attempts to mitigate its exposure to market risk by entering into offsetting transactions, which may include purchase or sale of interest-bearing securities and equity securities. Credit Risk — The Company is subject to credit risk in connection with its investments in LMM loans and LMM MBS and other target assets it may acquire in the future. The credit risk related to these investments pertains to the ability and willingness of the borrowers to pay, which is assessed before credit is granted or renewed and periodically reviewed throughout the loan or security term. The Company believes that loan credit quality is primarily determined by the borrowers' credit profiles and loan characteristics and seeks to mitigate this risk by seeking to acquire assets at appropriate prices given anticipated and unanticipated losses and by deploying a value-driven approach to underwriting and diligence, consistent with its historical investment strategy, with a focus on projected cash flows and potential risks to cash flow. The Company further mitigates its risk of potential losses while managing and servicing loans by performing various workout and loss mitigation strategies with delinquent borrowers. Nevertheless, unanticipated credit losses could occur, which could adversely impact operating results. The Company is also subject to credit risk with respect to the counterparties to derivative contracts. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligation under a derivative contract due to financial difficulties, the Company may experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery under the derivative contract in a dissolution, assignment for the benefit of creditors, liquidation, winding-up, bankruptcy, or other analogous proceeding. In the event of the insolvency of a counterparty to a derivative transaction, the derivative transaction would typically be terminated at its fair market value. If the Company is owed this fair market value in the termination of the derivative transaction and its claim is unsecured, it will be treated as a general creditor of such counterparty and will not have any claim with respect to the underlying security. The Company may obtain only a limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such circumstances. In addition, the business failure of a counterparty with whom it enters a hedging transaction will most likely result in its default, which may result in the loss of potential future value and the loss of our hedge and force the Company to cover its commitments, if any, at the then current market price. Counterparty credit risk is the risk that counterparties may fail to fulfill their obligations, including their inability to post additional collateral in circumstances where their pledged collateral value becomes inadequate. The Company attempts to manage its exposure to counterparty risk through diversification, use of financial instruments and monitoring the creditworthiness of counterparties. The Company finances the acquisition of a significant portion of its loans and investments with repurchase agreements and borrowings under credit facilities and other financing agreements. In connection with these financing arrangements, the Company pledges its loans, securities and cash as collateral to secure the borrowings. The amount of collateral pledged will typically exceed the amount of the borrowings (i.e., the haircut) such that the borrowings will be over-collateralized. As a result, the Company is exposed to the counterparty if, during the term of the repurchase agreement financing, a lender should default on its obligation and the Company is not able to recover its pledged assets. The amount of this exposure is the difference between the amount loaned to the Company plus interest due to the counterparty and the fair value of the collateral pledged by the Company to the lender including accrued interest receivable on such collateral. The Company is exposed to changing interest rates and market conditions, which affects cash flows associated with borrowings. The Company enters into derivative instruments, such as interest rate swaps, to mitigate these risks. Interest rate swaps are used to mitigate the exposure to changes in interest rates and involve the receipt of variable-rate interest amounts from a counterparty in exchange for making payments based on a fixed interest rate over the life of the swap contract. Certain subsidiaries have entered into OTC interest rate swap agreements to hedge risks associated with movements in interest rates. Because certain interest rate swaps were not cleared through a central counterparty, the Company remains exposed to the counterparty’s ability to perform its obligations under each such swap and cannot look to the creditworthiness of a central counterparty for performance. As a result, if an OTC swap counterparty cannot perform under the terms of an interest rate swap, the Company’s subsidiary would not receive payments due under that agreement, the Company may lose any unrealized gain associated with the interest rate swap and the hedged liability would cease to be hedged by the interest rate swap. While the Company would seek to terminate the relevant OTC swap transaction and may have a claim against the defaulting counterparty for any losses, including unrealized gains, there is no assurance that the Company would be able to recover such amounts or to replace the relevant swap on economically viable terms or at all. In such case, the Company could be forced to cover its unhedged liabilities at the then current market price. The Company may also be at risk for any pledged collateral to secure its obligations under the OTC interest rate swap if the counterparty becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy. Therefore, upon a default by an interest rate swap agreement counterparty, the interest rate swap would no longer mitigate the impact of changes in interest rates as intended. Liquidity Risk — Liquidity risk arises from investments and the general financing of the Company’s investing activities. It includes the risk of not being able to fund acquisition and origination activities at settlement dates and/or liquidate positions in a timely manner at reasonable prices, in addition to potential increases in collateral requirements during times of heightened market volatility. If the Company was forced to dispose of an illiquid investment at an inopportune time, it might be forced to do so at a substantial discount to the market value, resulting in a realized loss. The Company attempts to mitigate its liquidity risk by regularly monitoring the liquidity of its investments in LMM loans, MBS and other financial instruments. Factors such as expected exit strategy for, the bid to offer spread of, and the number of broker dealers making an active market in a particular strategy and the availability of long-term funding, are considered in analyzing liquidity risk. To reduce any perceived disparity between the liquidity and the terms of the debt instruments in which the Company invests, it attempts to minimize its reliance on short-term financing arrangements. While the Company may finance certain investments in security positions using traditional margin arrangements and reverse repurchase agreements, other financial instruments such as collateralized debt obligations, and other longer term financing vehicles may be utilized to provide it with sources of long-term financing. Off-Balance Sheet Risk —The Company has undrawn commitments on outstanding loans which are disclosed in Note 24. Interest Rate — Interest rate risk is highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors beyond the Company’s control. The Company’s operating results will depend, in part, on differences between the income from its investments and financing costs. Generally, debt financing is based on a floating rate of interest calculated on a fixed spread over the relevant index, subject to a floor, as determined by the particular financing arrangement. In the event of a significant rising interest rate environment and/or economic downturn, defaults could increase and result in credit losses to us, which could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, such defaults could have an adverse effect on the spread between the Company’s interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities. Additionally, non-performing LMM loans are not as interest rate sensitive as performing loans, as earnings on non-performing loans are often generated from restructuring the assets through loss mitigation strategies and opportunistically disposing of them. Because non-performing LMM loans are short-term assets, the discount rates used for valuation are based on short-term market interest rates, which may not move in tandem with long-term market interest rates. Prepayment Risk — As the Company receives prepayments of principal on its assets, any premiums paid on such assets are amortized against interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates accelerates the amortization of purchase premiums, thereby reducing the interest income earned on the assets. Conversely, discounts on such assets are accreted into interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates accelerates the accretion of purchase discounts, thereby increasing the interest income earned on the assets.

Financial Instruments with off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Financial Instruments off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks

Financial Instruments with off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks

Note 23. Financial instruments with off-balance sheet risk, credit risk, and certain other risks

In the normal course of business, the Company enters into transactions in various financial instruments that expose us to various types of risk, both on and off-balance sheet. Such risks are associated with financial instruments and markets in which the Company invests. These financial instruments expose us to varying degrees of market risk, credit risk, interest rate risk, liquidity risk, off-balance sheet risk and prepayment risk.

Market Risk — Market risk is the potential adverse changes in the values of the financial instrument due to unfavorable changes in the level or volatility of interest rates, foreign currency exchange rates, or market values of the underlying financial instruments. The Company attempts to mitigate its exposure to market risk by entering into offsetting transactions, which may include purchase or sale of interest-bearing securities and equity securities.

Credit Risk — The Company is subject to credit risk in connection with its investments in LMM loans and LMM MBS and other target assets it may acquire in the future. The credit risk related to these investments pertains to the ability and willingness of the borrowers to pay, which is assessed before credit is granted or renewed and periodically reviewed throughout the loan or security term. The Company believes that loan credit quality is primarily determined by the borrowers' credit profiles and loan characteristics and seeks to mitigate this risk by seeking to acquire assets at appropriate prices given anticipated and unanticipated losses and by deploying a value-driven approach to underwriting and diligence, consistent with its historical investment strategy, with a focus on projected cash flows and potential risks to cash flow. The Company further mitigates its risk of potential losses while managing and servicing loans by performing various workout and loss mitigation strategies with delinquent borrowers. Nevertheless, unanticipated credit losses could occur, which could adversely impact operating results.

The Company is also subject to credit risk with respect to the counterparties to derivative contracts. If a counterparty becomes bankrupt or otherwise fails to perform its obligation under a derivative contract due to financial difficulties, the Company may experience significant delays in obtaining any recovery under the derivative contract in a dissolution, assignment for the benefit of creditors, liquidation, winding-up, bankruptcy, or other analogous proceeding. In the event

of the insolvency of a counterparty to a derivative transaction, the derivative transaction would typically be terminated at its fair market value. If the Company is owed this fair market value in the termination of the derivative transaction and its claim is unsecured, it will be treated as a general creditor of such counterparty and will not have any claim with respect to the underlying security. The Company may obtain only a limited recovery or may obtain no recovery in such circumstances. In addition, the business failure of a counterparty with whom it enters a hedging transaction will most likely result in its default, which may result in the loss of potential future value and the loss of our hedge and force the Company to cover its commitments, if any, at the then current market price.

Counterparty credit risk is the risk that counterparties may fail to fulfill their obligations, including their inability to post additional collateral in circumstances where their pledged collateral value becomes inadequate. The Company attempts to manage its exposure to counterparty risk through diversification, use of financial instruments and monitoring the creditworthiness of counterparties.

The Company finances the acquisition of a significant portion of its loans and investments with repurchase agreements and borrowings under credit facilities and other financing agreements. In connection with these financing arrangements, the Company pledges its loans, securities and cash as collateral to secure the borrowings. The amount of collateral pledged will typically exceed the amount of the borrowings (i.e., the haircut) such that the borrowings will be over-collateralized. As a result, the Company is exposed to the counterparty if, during the term of the repurchase agreement financing, a lender should default on its obligation and the Company is not able to recover its pledged assets. The amount of this exposure is the difference between the amount loaned to the Company plus interest due to the counterparty and the fair value of the collateral pledged by the Company to the lender including accrued interest receivable on such collateral.

The Company is exposed to changing interest rates and market conditions, which affects cash flows associated with borrowings. The Company enters into derivative instruments, such as interest rate swaps, to mitigate these risks. Interest rate swaps are used to mitigate the exposure to changes in interest rates and involve the receipt of variable-rate interest amounts from a counterparty in exchange for making payments based on a fixed interest rate over the life of the swap contract.

Certain subsidiaries have entered into OTC interest rate swap agreements to hedge risks associated with movements in interest rates. Because certain interest rate swaps were not cleared through a central counterparty, the Company remains exposed to the counterparty’s ability to perform its obligations under each such swap and cannot look to the creditworthiness of a central counterparty for performance. As a result, if an OTC swap counterparty cannot perform under the terms of an interest rate swap, the Company’s subsidiary would not receive payments due under that agreement, the Company may lose any unrealized gain associated with the interest rate swap and the hedged liability would cease to be hedged by the interest rate swap. While the Company would seek to terminate the relevant OTC swap transaction and may have a claim against the defaulting counterparty for any losses, including unrealized gains, there is no assurance that the Company would be able to recover such amounts or to replace the relevant swap on economically viable terms or at all. In such case, the Company could be forced to cover its unhedged liabilities at the then current market price. The Company may also be at risk for any pledged collateral to secure its obligations under the OTC interest rate swap if the counterparty becomes insolvent or files for bankruptcy. Therefore, upon a default by an interest rate swap agreement counterparty, the interest rate swap would no longer mitigate the impact of changes in interest rates as intended.

Liquidity Risk — Liquidity risk arises from investments and the general financing of the Company’s investing activities. It includes the risk of not being able to fund acquisition and origination activities at settlement dates and/or liquidate positions in a timely manner at reasonable prices, in addition to potential increases in collateral requirements during times of heightened market volatility. If the Company was forced to dispose of an illiquid investment at an inopportune time, it might be forced to do so at a substantial discount to the market value, resulting in a realized loss. The Company attempts to mitigate its liquidity risk by regularly monitoring the liquidity of its investments in LMM loans, MBS and other financial instruments. Factors such as expected exit strategy for, the bid to offer spread of, and the number of broker dealers making an active market in a particular strategy and the availability of long-term funding, are considered in analyzing liquidity risk. To reduce any perceived disparity between the liquidity and the terms of the debt instruments in which the Company invests, it attempts to minimize its reliance on short-term financing arrangements. While the Company may finance certain investments in security positions using traditional margin arrangements and reverse repurchase agreements, other financial instruments such as collateralized debt obligations, and other longer term financing vehicles may be utilized to provide it with sources of long-term financing.

Off-Balance Sheet Risk —The Company has undrawn commitments on outstanding loans which are disclosed in Note 24.

Interest Rate — Interest rate risk is highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors beyond the Company’s control.

The Company’s operating results will depend, in part, on differences between the income from its investments and financing costs. Generally, debt financing is based on a floating rate of interest calculated on a fixed spread over the relevant index, subject to a floor, as determined by the particular financing arrangement. In the event of a significant rising interest rate environment and/or economic downturn, defaults could increase and result in credit losses to us, which could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and prospects. Furthermore, such defaults could have an adverse effect on the spread between the Company’s interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities.

Additionally, non-performing LMM loans are not as interest rate sensitive as performing loans, as earnings on non-performing loans are often generated from restructuring the assets through loss mitigation strategies and opportunistically disposing of them. Because non-performing LMM loans are short-term assets, the discount rates used for valuation are based on short-term market interest rates, which may not move in tandem with long-term market interest rates.

Prepayment Risk — As the Company receives prepayments of principal on its assets, any premiums paid on such assets are amortized against interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates accelerates the amortization of purchase premiums, thereby reducing the interest income earned on the assets. Conversely, discounts on such assets are accreted into interest income. In general, an increase in prepayment rates accelerates the accretion of purchase discounts, thereby increasing the interest income earned on the assets.