Short-Term Borrowings

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2015

Short-term Debt [Abstract]

Short-term Debt [Text Block]

Short-term Borrowings

The following table presents the composition of our short-term borrowings portfolio.

	March 31, 2015						December 31, 2014
($ in millions)	Unsecured		Secured (a)		Total		Unsecured		Secured (a)		Total
Demand notes	$	3,481	$	—	$	3,481	$	3,338	$	—	$	3,338
Federal Home Loan Bank	—		800		800		—		2,950		2,950
Securities sold under agreements to repurchase	—		2,166		2,166		—		774		774
Total short-term borrowings	$	3,481	$	2,966	$	6,447	$	3,338	$	3,724	$	7,062

(a) Refer to Note 14 for further details on assets restricted as collateral for payment of the related debt.

We periodically enter into term repurchase agreements, short-term borrowing agreements in which we sell financial instruments to one or more investors while simultaneously committing to repurchase them at a specified future date, at the stated price plus accrued interest. As of March 31, 2015, the financial instruments sold under agreement to repurchase consisted of U.S. Treasury and Federal Agency securities with maturities as follows: $1.7 billion within the next 30 days and $504 million within 31 to 60 days. The primary risk associated with these repurchase agreements is that the counterparty will be unable to perform under the terms of the contract. As the borrower, we are exposed to the excess market value of the securities pledged over the amount borrowed. Daily mark-to-market collateral management is designed to limit this risk to the initial margin. However, should a counterparty declare bankruptcy or become insolvent, we may incur additional delays and costs.