The Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis is a regional wholesale bank that serves
its member financial institutions in Michigan and Indiana. We are one of 11 regional
FHLBanks across the United States, which, along with the Office of Finance, compose
the FHLBank System established in 1932. Each FHLBank is privately capitalized
and funded, and receives no Congressional appropriations.
Our mission is to provide reliable and readily available liquidity to our member
institutions in support of housing finance and community investment. Our advance
and mortgage purchase programs provide funding to assist members with asset/liability
management, interest rate risk management, profitability enhancement, and mortgage
pipelines. In addition to funding, we provide various correspondent services,
such as securities safekeeping and wire transfers. We also help to meet the
economic and housing needs of communities and families through grants and low-cost
advances that help support affordable housing and economic development initiatives.
Our Bank was organized under the authority of the Bank Act. We are wholly owned
by our member institutions. All federally- insured depository institutions (including
commercial banks, thrifts and credit unions), CDFIs certified by the CDFI Fund
of the United States Treasury, and certain types of insurance companies are
eligible to become members of our Bank if they have a principal place of business,
or are domiciled in, our district states of Michigan or Indiana. Applicants
for membership must meet certain requirements that demonstrate that they are
engaged in residential housing finance. All member institutions are required
to purchase a minimum amount of our Class B capital stock as a condition of
membership. Only members may own our capital stock, except for stock held by
former members or their legal successors during their stock redemption period.
Our members are also our primary customers. We are generally limited to making
advances to and purchasing mortgage loans from members; however, by regulation,
we are also permitted to make advances to and purchase loans from Housing Associates,
but they may not purchase our stock and have no voting rights. We do not lend
directly to, or purchase mortgage loans directly from, the general public.
Each FHLBank is a GSE and a federal instrumentality of the United States of
America that operates as an independent entity with its own board of directors,
management, and employees. A GSE is an entity that combines elements of private
capital, public sponsorship, and public policy. The public sponsorship and public
policy attributes of the FHLBanks include:
an exemption from federal, state, and local taxation, except employment and
real estate taxes;
an exemption from registration under the Securities Act (although the FHLBanks
are required by federal law to register a class of their equity securities under
the Exchange Act);
the requirement that at least 40% of our directors be non-member "independent"
directors; that two of these "independent" directors have more than
four years of experience representing consumer or community interests in banking
services, credit needs, housing, or consumer financial protections; and that
the remaining "independent" directors have demonstrated knowledge
or experience in auditing or accounting, derivatives, financial management,
organizational management, project development or risk management practices,
or other expertise established by Finance Agency regulations;
the United States Treasurys authority to purchase up to $4.0 billion of FHLBank
consolidated obligations; and
the required allocation of 10% of annual net earnings before interest expense
on MRCS to fund the AHP.
The principal source of our funding is the proceeds from the sale to the public
of FHLBank debt instruments, known as consolidated obligations, which consist
of CO bonds and discount notes. The Office of Finance was established as a joint
office of the FHLBanks to facilitate the issuance and servicing of consolidated
obligations. The United States government does not guarantee, directly or indirectly,
our consolidated obligations, which are the joint and several obligations of
all FHLBanks.
The Finance Agency has been the federal regulator of the FHLBanks, Fannie Mae
and Freddie Mac since July 2008. The Finance Agencys operating expenses with
respect to the FHLBanks are funded by assessments on the FHLBanks. No tax dollars
are used to support the operations of the Finance Agency relating to the FHLBanks.
We offer our members a wide variety of credit products, including advances,
letters of credit, and lines of credit. We approve member credit requests based
on our assessment of the members creditworthiness and financial condition,
as well as its collateral position. All credit products must be fully collateralized
by a members pledge of eligible assets, primarily one-to-four family residential
mortgage loans, various types of securities, deposits in our Bank, and certain
ORERC, supplemented by a statutory lien provided under the Bank Act on each
members stock in our Bank. We may also accept small business loans and farm
real-estate loans as collateral from CFIs.
Our primary credit product is advances. We offer a wide array of fixed-rate
and adjustable-rate advances, on which interest is generally due monthly. The
maturities of advances currently offered typically range from 1 day to 10 years,
although the maximum maturity may be longer in some instances.