The Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston is a federally chartered corporation organized
by the U.S. Congress (Congress) in 1932 pursuant to the Federal Home Loan Bank
Act of 1932 (as amended, the FHLBank Act) and is a government-sponsored enterprise
(GSE). Unless otherwise indicated or unless the context requires otherwise, or
similar references mean the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston. Our primary regulator
is the Federal Housing Finance Agency (the FHFA).
We are privately capitalized, and our mission is to provide highly reliable
wholesale funding, liquidity, and a competitive return on investment to our
members. We develop and deliver competitively priced financial products, services,
and expertise that support housing finance, community development, and economic
growth, including programs targeted to lower-income households. We serve the
residential-mortgage and community-development lending activities of our members
and certain nonmember institutions (referred to as housing associates) located
in our district. Our district is comprised of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts,
New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. There are 11 district Federal Home
Loan Banks (the FHLBanks or the FHLBank System) located across the United States
(the U.S.), each supporting the lending activities of its members within their
districts. Each FHLBank is a separate entity with its own board of directors,
management, and employees.
We are exempt from ordinary federal, state, and local taxation except for local
real estate tax. However, we set aside funds at a 10 percent rate on our income
for our Affordable Housing Program (AHP). For additional information, see —
AHP Assessment. We also have put in place certain subsidized advance programs
including our Jobs for New England program and our Helping to House New England
program. For additional information, see — Targeted Housing and Community
Investment Programs.
We are managed with the primary objectives of enhancing the value of our membership
and fulfilling our public purpose. In pursuit of our primary objectives, we
have adopted long-term strategic priorities in our strategic business plan,
which are to:
position the Bank to compete effectively in the wholesale funding market and
support members and housing associates’ efforts to address the affordable
housing and economic needs of their communities;
maintain an appropriate and efficient capital structure considering our risk
profile through proactive capital stock management and dividend strategies;
advocate stakeholder interests in policy matters, and effectively monitor and
respond to pending GSE reform and other legislative and regulatory initiatives;
acquire, develop and retain the talent required to meet our current and future
needs;
leverage the advantages of a diverse and inclusive organization in all aspects
of our efforts; and
continue to evolve as a strong and agile organization that responds quickly
and effectively to emerging risks and opportunities while upholding our commitment
to efficient and effective operations.
We combine private capital and public sponsorship in a way that is intended
to enable our members and housing associates to assure the flow of credit and
other services for housing and community development. We serve the public through
our members and housing associates by providing these institutions with a readily
available, low-cost source of funds, called advances, as well as other products
and services that are intended to support the availability of residential-mortgage
and community-investment credit. In addition, we provide liquidity by enabling
members to sell mortgage loans through a mortgage loan purchase program. Under
this program, we offer participating financial institutions the opportunity
to originate mortgage loans for sale to us or to designated third-party investors.
Our primary sources of income come from interest on invested capital as well
as the spread between interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities.
We are generally able to borrow funds at favorable rates due to our GSE status.
Our members and housing associates are comprised of institutions located throughout
our district. Institutions eligible for membership include thrift institutions
(savings banks, savings and loan associations, and cooperative banks), commercial
banks, credit unions, qualified community development financial institutions
(CDFIs), and insurance companies that are active in housing finance. We are
also authorized to lend to housing associates such as state housing-finance
agencies located in New England. Members are required to purchase and hold our
capital stock as a condition of membership and for advances and certain other
activities transacted with us. Our capital stock is not publicly traded on any
stock exchange. We are capitalized by the capital stock purchased by our members
and by retained earnings.
%
9.26% 