Consolidations and Transfers of Financial Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2017

Consolidations and Transfers of Financial Assets [Abstract]

Consolidations and Transfers of Financial Assets

We have interests in various entities that are considered to be VIEs. The primary types of entities are securitization trusts guaranteed by us via lender swap and portfolio securitization transactions and mortgage-backed trusts that were not created by us, as well as housing partnerships that are established to finance the acquisition, construction, development or rehabilitation of affordable multifamily and single-family housing. These interests include investments in securities issued by VIEs, such as Fannie Mae MBS created pursuant to our securitization transactions and our guaranty to the entity. We consolidate the substantial majority of our single-class securitization trusts because our role as guarantor and master servicer provides us with the power to direct matters (primarily the servicing of mortgage loans) that impact the credit risk to which we are exposed. In contrast, we do not consolidate single-class securitization trusts when other organizations have the power to direct these activities.

Types of VIEs

Securitization Trusts

Under our lender swap and portfolio securitization transactions, mortgage loans are transferred to a trust specifically for the purpose of issuing a single class of guaranteed securities that are collateralized by the underlying mortgage loans. The trust’s permitted activities include receiving the transferred assets, issuing beneficial interests, establishing the guaranty and servicing the underlying mortgage loans. In our capacity as issuer, master servicer, trustee and guarantor, we earn fees for our obligations to each trust. Additionally, we may retain or purchase a portion of the securities issued by each trust. We have securitized mortgage loans since 1981.

In our structured securitization transactions, we earn fees for assisting lenders and dealers with the design and issuance of structured mortgage-related securities. The trusts created in these transactions have permitted activities that are similar to those for our lender swap and portfolio securitization transactions. The assets of these trusts may include mortgage-related securities and/or mortgage loans. The trusts created for Fannie Megas issue single-class securities while the trusts created for REMIC, grantor trust and stripped mortgage-backed securities (“SMBS”) issue single-class and multi-class securities, the latter of which separate the cash flows from underlying assets into separately tradable interests. Our obligations and continued involvement in these trusts are similar to those described for lender swap and portfolio securitization transactions. We have securitized mortgage assets in structured transactions since 1986.

We also invest in mortgage-backed securities that have been issued via private-label trusts. These trusts are structured to provide investors with a beneficial interest in a pool of receivables or other financial assets, typically mortgage loans. The trusts act as vehicles to allow loan originators to securitize assets. Securities are structured from the underlying pool of assets to provide for varying degrees of risk. The originators of the financial assets or the underwriters of the transaction create the trusts and typically own the residual interest in the trusts’ assets. Our involvement in these entities is typically limited to our recorded investment in the beneficial interests that we have purchased. We have invested in these vehicles since 1987.

Limited Partnerships

We have historically made equity investments in various limited partnerships that sponsor affordable housing projects utilizing the low-income housing tax credit pursuant to Section 42 of the Internal Revenue Code. The purpose of these investments is to increase the supply of affordable housing in the United States and to serve communities in need. In addition, our investments in LIHTC partnerships generate both tax credits and net operating losses that may reduce our federal income tax liability. Our LIHTC investments primarily represent limited partnership interests in entities that have been organized by a fund manager who acts as the general partner. These fund investments seek out equity investments in LIHTC operating partnerships that have been established to identify, develop and operate multifamily housing that is leased to qualifying residential tenants.

We no longer recognize net operating losses or impairment on our LIHTC partnership investments as the carrying value is zero. We did not make any LIHTC investments in 2017, 2016 or 2015, other than pursuant to existing prior commitments.

Consolidated VIEs

If an entity is a VIE, we consider whether our variable interest in that entity causes us to be the primary beneficiary. The primary beneficiary of the VIE is required to consolidate and account for the assets, liabilities and noncontrolling interests of the VIE in its consolidated financial statements. An enterprise is deemed to be the primary beneficiary when the enterprise has the power to direct the activities of the VIE that most significantly impact the entity’s economic performance and exposure to benefits and/or losses could potentially be significant to the entity. In general, the investors in the obligations of consolidated VIEs have recourse only to the assets of those VIEs and do not have recourse to us, except where we provide a guaranty to the VIE.

We continually assess whether we are the primary beneficiary of the VIEs with which we are involved and therefore may consolidate or deconsolidate a VIE through the duration of our involvement. As of December 31, 2017, we consolidated certain VIEs that were not consolidated as of December 31, 2016. As a result of consolidating these entities, which had combined total assets of $17 million in unpaid principal balance as of December 31, 2017, we derecognized our investment in these entities and recognized the assets and liabilities of the consolidated entities at fair value. As of December 31, 2017, we also deconsolidated certain VIEs that were consolidated and had combined total assets of $258 million in unpaid principal balance as of December 31, 2016. The majority of this activity related to the deconsolidation of multi-class resecuritization trusts containing consolidated Fannie Mae MBS, which resulted in the recognition of the debt issued to third parties of the MBS trusts we consolidated and the fair value of our retained interests as securities in our consolidated balance sheets.

Unconsolidated VIEs

We do not consolidate VIEs when we are not deemed to be the primary beneficiary. Our unconsolidated VIEs include securitization trusts and limited partnerships. The following table displays the carrying amount and classification of our assets and liabilities that relate to our involvement with unconsolidated mortgage-backed trusts.



	As of December 31,
	2017				2016
	(Dollars in millions)
Assets and liabilities recorded in our consolidated balance sheets related to mortgage-backed trusts:
Assets:
Trading securities:
Fannie Mae		$	3,809			$	4,642
Non-Fannie Mae		1,580				3,473
Total trading securities		5,389				8,115
Available-for-sale securities:
Fannie Mae		2,032				2,447
Non-Fannie Mae		2,062				4,879
Total available-for-sale securities		4,094				7,326
Other assets		74				77
Other liabilities		(467		)		(528		)
Net carrying amount		$	9,090			$	14,990

Our maximum exposure to loss generally represents the greater of our recorded investment in the entity or the unpaid principal balance of the assets covered by our guaranty. However, our securities issued by Fannie Mae multi-class resecuritization trusts that are not consolidated do not give rise to any additional exposure to loss as we already consolidate the underlying collateral. The maximum exposure to loss related to unconsolidated mortgage-backed trusts was approximately $15 billion and $21 billion as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. The total assets of our unconsolidated mortgage-backed trusts were approximately $70 billion and $150 billion as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The maximum exposure to loss for our unconsolidated limited partnerships and similar legal entities, which consist of LIHTC investments, community investments and other entities, was $105 million and the related carrying value was $82 million as of December 31, 2017. As of December 31, 2016, the maximum exposure to loss was $118 million and the related carrying value was $92 million. The total assets of these limited partnership investments were $3.2 billion and $3.9 billion as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively.

The unpaid principal balance of our multifamily loan portfolio was $265.1 billion as of December 31, 2017. As our lending relationship does not provide us with a controlling financial interest in the borrower entity, we do not consolidate these borrowers regardless of their status as either a VIE or a voting interest entity. We have excluded these entities from our VIE disclosures. However, the disclosures we have provided in “Note 3, Mortgage Loans,” “Note 4, Allowance for Loan Losses” and “Note 6, Financial Guarantees” with respect to this population are consistent with the FASB’s stated objectives for the disclosures related to unconsolidated VIEs.

Transfers of Financial Assets

We issue Fannie Mae MBS through portfolio securitization transactions by transferring pools of mortgage loans or mortgage-related securities to one or more trusts or special purpose entities. We are considered to be the transferor when we transfer assets from our own retained mortgage portfolio in a portfolio securitization transaction. For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, the unpaid principal balance of portfolio securitizations was $252.7 billion, $264.7 billion and $212.0 billion, respectively.

We retain interests from the transfer and sale of mortgage-related securities to unconsolidated single-class and multi-class portfolio securitization trusts. As of December 31, 2017, the unpaid principal balance of retained interests was $3.9 billion and its related fair value was $4.7 billion. The unpaid principal balance of retained interests was $4.4 billion and its related fair value was $5.8 billion as of December 31, 2016. For the years ended December 31, 2017, 2016 and 2015, the principal and interest received on retained interests was $1.1 billion, $1.2 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively.

Managed Loans

Managed loans are on-balance sheet mortgage loans, as well as mortgage loans that we have securitized in unconsolidated portfolio securitization trusts. The unpaid principal balance of securitized loans in unconsolidated portfolio securitization trusts, which are primarily loans that are guaranteed or insured, in whole or in part, by the U.S. government, was $1.3 billion and $1.4 billion as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively. For information on our on-balance sheet mortgage loans, see “Note 3, Mortgage Loans.”