INVESTMENTS (Details 5) (USD $)	Sep. 30, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	$ 24,935,000,000	$ 24,489,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	100.00%	100.00%
Securities purchased through FRBNY's auction of Maiden Lane III assets	7,100,000,000
Fixed maturity securities
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	24,837,000,000	24,364,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	100.00%	99.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| U.S. government and government sponsored entities
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	7,708,000,000	7,504,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	31.00%	31.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Non-U.S. government
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	2,000,000	35,000,000
Fixed maturity securities \| Corporate debt
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	1,318,000,000	816,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	5.00%	3.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Obligations of states, municipalities and political subdivisions
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	81,000,000	257,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total		1.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Mortgage backed, asset backed and collateralized
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	15,720,000,000	8,767,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	64.00%	36.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS)
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	1,471,000,000	1,648,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	6.00%	7.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	2,102,000,000	1,837,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	9.00%	7.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Collateralized Debt Obligations/Asset Backed Securities (CDO/ABS)
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	12,147,000,000	5,282,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total	49.00%	22.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Maiden Lane II
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value		1,321,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total		5.00%
Fixed maturity securities \| Maiden Lane III
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	8,000,000	5,664,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total		23.00%
Equity securities
TRADING SECURITIES
Trading Securities, Fair Value	$ 98,000,000	$ 125,000,000
Trading Securities, Percent of Total		1.00%

- Definition

This element represents the portion of the balance sheet assertion valued at fair value by the entity whether such amount is presented as a separate caption or as a parenthetical disclosure. Additionally, this element may be used in connection with the fair value disclosures required in the footnote disclosures to the financial statements. The element may be used in both the balance sheet and disclosure in the same submission. This item represents Trading Securities which consist of all investments in certain debt and equity securities that are bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term (thus held for only a short period of time) or for which an entity has elected the fair value option. Trading generally reflects active and frequent buying and selling, and trading securities are generally used with the objective of generating profits on short-term differences in price, but this category of investments may also include items which are not intended to be sold in the near term or for which the fair value option has been elected.

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