Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Organization

We are a stockholder-owned corporation organized and existing under the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act (the “Charter Act” or our “charter”). We are a government-sponsored enterprise (“GSE”) and we are subject to government oversight and regulation. Our regulators include the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (“HUD”), the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”). The U.S. government does not guarantee our securities or other obligations.

Conservatorship

On September 7, 2008, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Director of FHFA announced several actions taken by Treasury and FHFA regarding Fannie Mae, which included: (1) placing us in conservatorship and (2) the execution of a senior preferred stock purchase agreement by our conservator, on our behalf, and Treasury, pursuant to which we issued to Treasury both senior preferred stock and a warrant to purchase common stock.

Under the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, as amended by the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, (together, the “GSE Act”), the conservator immediately succeeded to (1) all rights, titles, powers and privileges of Fannie Mae, and of any stockholder, officer or director of Fannie Mae with respect to Fannie Mae and its assets, and (2) title to the books, records and assets of any other legal custodian of Fannie Mae. The conservator has since delegated specified authorities to our Board of Directors and has delegated to management the authority to conduct our day-to-day operations. The conservator retains the authority to withdraw its delegations at any time.

The conservator has the power to transfer or sell any asset or liability of Fannie Mae (subject to limitations and post-transfer notice provisions for transfers of qualified financial contracts) without any approval, assignment of rights or consent of any party. The GSE Act, however, provides that mortgage loans and mortgage-related assets that have been transferred to a Fannie Mae mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”) trust must be held by the conservator for the beneficial owners of the Fannie Mae MBS and cannot be used to satisfy the general creditors of Fannie Mae. As of November 7, 2013, FHFA has not exercised this power.

Neither the conservatorship nor the terms of our agreements with Treasury change our obligation to make required payments on our debt securities or perform under our mortgage guaranty obligations. FHFA issued a rule establishing a framework for conservatorship and receivership operations for the GSEs, which became effective in 2011. The rule established procedures for conservatorship and receivership, and priorities of claims for contract parties and other claimants. This rule is part of FHFA’s implementation of the powers provided by the Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, and does not seek to anticipate or predict future conservatorships or receiverships.

FHFA has announced that, during the conservatorship, our existing statutory and FHFA-directed regulatory capital requirements will not be binding and that FHFA will not issue quarterly capital classifications. We submit capital reports to FHFA and FHFA monitors our capital levels. The deficit of core capital over statutory minimum capital was $136.0 billion as of September 30, 2013 and $141.2 billion as of December 31, 2012.

Under the terms of the senior preferred stock purchase agreement, starting January 1, 2013, we are required to pay Treasury a dividend each quarter, when, as and if declared, equal to the excess of our net worth as of the end of the preceding quarter over an applicable capital reserve. Therefore, we do not expect to eliminate our deficit of core capital over statutory minimum capital. We expect to pay Treasury a dividend of $8.6 billion by December 31, 2013.

The conservatorship has no specified termination date and there continues to be uncertainty regarding the future of our company, including how long the company will continue to exist in its current form, the extent of our role in the market, what form we will have, and what ownership interest, if any, our current common and preferred stockholders will hold in us after the conservatorship is terminated or whether we will continue to exist following conservatorship. Under the GSE Act, FHFA must place us into receivership if the Director of FHFA makes a written determination that our assets are less than our obligations or if we have not been paying our debts, in either case, for a period of 60 days. In addition, the Director of FHFA may place us in receivership at his discretion at any time for other reasons, including conditions that FHFA has already asserted existed at the time the former Director of FHFA placed us into conservatorship. Placement into receivership would have a material adverse effect on holders of our common stock, preferred stock, debt securities and Fannie Mae MBS. Should we be placed into receivership, different assumptions would be required to determine the carrying value of our assets, which could lead to substantially different financial results. We are not aware of any plans of FHFA to significantly change our business model or capital structure in the near term.

Impact of U.S. Government Support

We continue to rely on support of Treasury to eliminate any net worth deficits we may experience in the future, which would otherwise trigger our being placed into receivership. Based on consideration of all the relevant conditions and events affecting our operations, including our reliance on the U.S. government, we continue to operate as a going concern and in accordance with our delegation of authority from FHFA.

Pursuant to the senior preferred stock purchase agreement, Treasury has committed to provide us with funding as described below to help us maintain a positive net worth thereby avoiding the mandatory receivership trigger described above. We have received a total of $116.1 billion from Treasury pursuant to the senior preferred stock purchase agreement as of September 30, 2013. The aggregate liquidation preference of the senior preferred stock, including the initial aggregate liquidation preference of $1.0 billion, remains at $117.1 billion as of September 30, 2013. As of November 7, 2013, the amount of remaining funding available to us under the senior preferred stock purchase agreement was $117.6 billion.

In August 2012, we, through FHFA acting on our behalf in its capacity as conservator, entered into an amendment to the senior preferred stock purchase agreement with Treasury. The amendment included, among other things, the following revision:

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Dividends. The method for calculating the amount of dividends we are required to pay Treasury on the senior preferred stock changed as of January 1, 2013. The method for calculating the amount of dividends payable on the senior preferred stock in effect prior to this amendment, which remained in effect through December 31, 2012, was to apply an annual dividend rate of 10% to the aggregate liquidation preference of the senior preferred stock. Effective January 1, 2013, when, as and if declared, the amount of dividends payable on the senior preferred stock for a dividend period are determined based on our net worth as of the end of the immediately preceding fiscal quarter. For each dividend period from January 1, 2013 through and including December 31, 2017, the dividend amount will be the amount, if any, by which our net worth as of the end of the immediately preceding fiscal quarter exceeds an applicable capital reserve amount. If our net worth does not exceed the applicable capital reserve amount as of the end of a fiscal quarter, then no dividend amount will accrue or be payable for the applicable dividend period. The capital reserve amount will be $3.0 billion for 2013 and will be reduced by $600 million each year until it reaches zero on January 1, 2018. For each dividend period thereafter, the dividend amount will be the entire amount of our net worth, if any, as of the end of the immediately preceding fiscal quarter.

On September 30, 2013, we paid Treasury a dividend of $10.2 billion based on our net worth as of June 30, 2013. Based on the terms of the senior preferred stock purchase agreement with Treasury, we expect to pay Treasury a dividend of $8.6 billion by December 31, 2013.

We fund our business primarily through the issuance of short-term and long-term debt securities in the domestic and international capital markets. Because debt issuance is our primary funding source, we are subject to “roll-over,” or refinancing, risk on our outstanding debt. Our ability to issue long-term debt has been strong primarily due to actions taken by the federal government to support us and the financial markets.

We believe that continued federal government support of our business and the financial markets, as well as our status as a GSE, are essential to maintaining our access to debt funding. Changes or perceived changes in the federal government support of our business and the financial markets or our status as a GSE could materially and adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, due to our reliance on the U.S. government’s support, our access to debt funding or the cost of debt funding also could be materially adversely affected by a change or perceived change in the creditworthiness of the U.S. government. A downgrade in our credit ratings could reduce demand for our debt securities and increase our borrowing costs.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) for interim financial information and with the SEC’s instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and note disclosures required by GAAP for complete consolidated financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments of a normal recurring nature considered necessary for a fair presentation have been included. The accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements include our accounts as well as the accounts of other entities in which we have a controlling financial interest. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated. Results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 may not necessarily be indicative of the results for the year ending December 31, 2013. The unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013 should be read in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and related notes included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2012 (“2012 Form 10-K”), filed with the SEC on April 2, 2013.

Related Parties

As a result of our issuance to Treasury of the warrant to purchase shares of Fannie Mae common stock equal to 79.9% of the total number of shares of Fannie Mae common stock, we and Treasury are deemed related parties. As of September 30, 2013, Treasury held an investment in our senior preferred stock with an aggregate liquidation preference of $117.1 billion. FHFA’s control of both us and Freddie Mac has caused us and Freddie Mac to be related parties.

Our administrative expenses were reduced by $23 million and $27 million for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $73 million and $75 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, due to reimbursements from Treasury and Freddie Mac for expenses incurred as program administrator for Treasury’s Home Affordable Modification Program (“HAMP”) and other initiatives under Treasury’s Making Home Affordable Program.

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2013, we made tax payments of $860 million and $1.9 billion, respectively to the Internal Revenue Service, a bureau of Treasury. We did not make any tax payments during the nine months ended September 30, 2012.

Under the temporary credit and liquidity facilities (“TCLF”) program, we had $1.0 billion and $1.6 billion outstanding, which include principal and interest, of standby credit and liquidity support as of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, respectively. Under the new issue bond (“NIB”) program, we had $4.6 billion and $6.1 billion outstanding of pass-through securities backed by single-family and multifamily housing bonds issued by housing finance agencies (“HFAs”) as of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, respectively. Treasury will bear the initial losses of principal under the TCLF program and the NIB program up to 35% of the total original principal on a combined program-wide basis, and thereafter we will bear the losses of principal that are attributable to the TCLF and the securities we have issued. Treasury will also bear any losses of unpaid interest under the two programs. As of September 30, 2013, there had been no losses of principal or interest under the TCLF program or the NIB program.

The fee revenue and expense related to the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 (“TCCA”) are recorded in “Mortgage loans interest income” and “Other expenses,” respectively, in our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. We recognized $276 million and $78 million in other expenses relating to TCCA-related guaranty fees during the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $695 million and $104 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, of which $276 million has not been remitted to Treasury as of September 30, 2013. During the three months ended September 30, 2013, we have remitted TCCA-related guaranty fees of $233 million to Treasury for our obligations as of June 30, 2013.

As of September 30, 2013 and December 31, 2012, we held Freddie Mac mortgage-related securities with a fair value of $9.4 billion and $12.2 billion, respectively, and accrued interest receivable of $38 million and $51 million, respectively. We recognized interest income on these securities held by us of $91 million and $132 million for the three months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively, and $303 million and $427 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2013 and 2012, respectively. In addition, Freddie Mac may be an investor in variable interest entities that we have consolidated, and we may be an investor in variable interest entities that Freddie Mac has consolidated.

In March 2013, FHFA announced that a new business entity would be established by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that would be separate from the two companies in order to further the goal of building a common securitization platform that would function like a market utility. The new business entity would be designed to operate as a replacement for some of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s securitization infrastructure. On October 7, 2013, FHFA announced that the new joint venture by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Common Securitization Solutions, LLC, has been established and that office space for the new entity has been secured. In connection with the entity’s establishment, we entered into a Limited Liability Company Agreement with Freddie Mac in October 2013 and anticipate entering into additional agreements relating to the new joint venture in the future. No other transactions outside of normal business activities have occurred between us and Freddie Mac in 2013 or 2012.

Use of Estimates

Preparing condensed consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect our reported amounts of assets and liabilities, and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities as of the dates of our condensed consolidated financial statements, as well as our reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods. Management has made significant estimates in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, valuation of certain financial instruments and other assets and liabilities, recoverability of our deferred tax assets, allowance for loan losses and reserve for guaranty losses, and other-than-temporary impairment of investment securities. Actual results could be different from these estimates.

As of March 31, 2013, we concluded that it is more likely than not that our deferred tax assets, except the deferred tax assets relating to capital loss carryforwards, would be realized. As a result, we released the valuation allowance on our deferred tax assets as of March 31, 2013. However, as of September 30, 2013, we retained $447 million of the valuation allowance that pertains to our capital loss carryforwards which we believe will expire unused. This conclusion was based upon the significance of the positive evidence of our ability to generate sufficient taxable income and utilize our net operating loss carryforwards. The release of the valuation allowance resulted in the recognition of $50.6 billion in our benefit for income taxes in our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income for the three months ended March 31, 2013. See “Note 10, Income Taxes,” for additional information regarding the factors that led to our conclusion to release the valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets.

We continually monitor prepayment, default and loss severity trends and periodically make changes in our historically developed assumptions to better reflect present conditions of loan performance. In the three months ended June 30, 2013, we updated the assumptions and data used to estimate our allowance for loan losses for individually impaired single-family loans based on current observable performance trends as well as future expectations of payment behavior. These updates reflect faster prepayment and lower default expectations for these loans primarily as a result of improvements in loan performance, in part due to increases in home prices. Increases in home prices reduce the mark-to-market loan-to-value (“LTV”) ratios on these loans and, as a result, borrowers’ equity increases. Faster prepayment and lower default expectations shortened the expected average life of modified loans, which reduced the expected credit losses and lowered concessions on modified loans. This resulted in a decrease to our allowance for loan losses as of June 30, 2013 and an incremental benefit for credit losses of approximately $2.2 billion during the three months ended June 30, 2013.

Earnings (Loss) per Share

Earnings (loss) per share (“EPS”) is presented for both basic EPS and diluted EPS. We compute basic EPS by dividing net income (loss) available to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. In addition to common shares outstanding, the computation of basic EPS includes instruments for which the holder has (or is deemed to have) the present rights as of the end of the reporting period to share in current period earnings with common stockholders (i.e., participating securities and common shares that are currently issuable for little or no cost to the holder). We include in the denominator of our basic EPS computation the weighted-average number of shares of common stock that would be issued upon the full exercise of the warrant issued to Treasury. Diluted EPS includes all the components of basic EPS, plus the dilutive effect of common stock equivalents such as convertible securities and stock options, but excludes those common stock equivalents from the calculation of diluted EPS when the effect of inclusion, assessed individually, would be anti-dilutive. The calculation of income available to common stockholders and earnings per share is based on the underlying premise that all income after payment of dividends on preferred shares is available to and will be distributed to the common stockholders. However, as a result of our conservatorship status and the terms of the senior preferred stock purchase agreement, no amounts are available to distribute as dividends to common or preferred stockholders (other than to Treasury as holder of the senior preferred stock).

Employee Retirement Benefits

We sponsor defined benefit pension plans for our employees that include qualified and nonqualified noncontributory plans. Effective December 31, 2009, our Executive Pension Plan was amended to cease benefit accruals for participating employees. Effective June 30, 2013, our tax-qualified Fannie Mae Retirement Plan for Employees Not Covered Under Civil Service Retirement Law (referred to as the “Retirement Plan”), our Supplemental Pension Plan and our Supplemental Pension Plan of 2003 were also amended to cease benefit accruals for all employees. As a result of freezing the Retirement Plan, the Supplemental Pension Plan and the Supplemental Pension Plan of 2003, a curtailment was triggered as of April 30, 2013 and resulted in a gain of $146 million recognized in “Other comprehensive income” (“OCI”). In October 2013, pursuant to a directive from our conservator, FHFA, our Board of Directors approved the termination of the Retirement Plan, the Supplemental Pension Plan, the Supplemental Pension Plan of 2003, and the Executive Pension Plan, effective as of December 31, 2013.

We plan to distribute all benefits remaining under the Retirement Plan following receipt of regulatory approvals. We expect this distribution to be complete by December 31, 2015. Except for retirees receiving payments under the Retirement Plan (or “in pay status”), participants in that plan will have the choice of receiving either a single lump sum payment or an annuity. Retirees in pay status will continue to receive payments of their Retirement Plan benefits pursuant to their current annuity elections. We plan to distribute all benefits remaining under the Supplemental Pension Plan, the Supplemental Pension Plan of 2003, and the Executive Pension Plan between October 2014 and October 2015. All participants in these three plans will receive lump sum payments of their remaining accrued benefits under the plans.

The lump sum payments paid to participants in all of the terminated plans will represent the actuarial equivalent value of the participants’ remaining accrued benefits under the plans as of the applicable distribution dates, calculated in accordance with the amended terms of the plans using the plans’ current benefit reduction factors for early retirement applicable for annuity payments and based on the participants’ ages on the distribution dates.

Upon completion of the terminations and settlement, actuarial losses related to our defined benefit pension plans which were earlier recorded in OCI will be recognized in net income in our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. We will re-measure the obligation and plan assets using updated assumptions during the three months ending December 31, 2013.

Adoption of New Accounting Guidance

Effective January 1, 2013, we retrospectively adopted guidance issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) on additional disclosures about derivatives, repurchase agreements and reverse repurchase agreements, and securities borrowing and lending transactions that are either offset on the balance sheet or subject to a master netting arrangement or similar agreement. The additional disclosures about these instruments are intended to enable investors to understand the effect or potential effect of those arrangements on the company’s financial positions. The required disclosures will enhance comparability between companies that prepare their financial statements in accordance with GAAP and those that follow international financial reporting standards. The updated guidance does not change existing offsetting eligibility criteria or the permitted balance sheet presentation for those instruments that meet the eligibility criteria. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements; however, it required us to expand our disclosures. See “Note 15, Netting Arrangements,” for additional information regarding the impact upon adoption of this guidance.

Effective January 1, 2013, we prospectively adopted guidance issued by FASB related to disclosing amounts that have been reclassified out of AOCI. The new guidance does not change the current requirements for reporting or measuring net income or other comprehensive income in the financial statements. However, the new guidance does require entities to present information about amounts reclassified out of AOCI during the period and their corresponding effect on net income by specific line item. The adoption of this guidance did not have a material impact on our condensed consolidated financial statements; however, it required us to expand our AOCI disclosures. See “Note 13, Equity,” for additional information regarding the disclosures required upon adoption of this guidance.