Federal Home Loan Bank Of Des Moines's

Advances
One of our primary businesses is to make advances to our members and eligible housing associates. Demand for our advances is affected by, among other things, the cost of other available sources of funding for our borrowers. We compete with other suppliers of secured and unsecured wholesale funding including, but not limited to, investment banks, commercial banks, other GSEs, and U.S. Government agencies. We may also compete with other FHLBanks to the extent that member institutions have affiliated institutions located outside of our district. Furthermore, our members typically have access to brokered deposits and resale agreements, each of which represent competitive alternatives to our advances. Many of our competitors are not subject to the same body of regulation that we are, which enables those competitors to offer products and terms that we may not be able to offer. Efforts to effectively compete with other suppliers of wholesale funding by changing the pricing of our advances may result in a decrease in the profitability of our advance business.

Mortgage Loans
The purchase of mortgage loans through the MPF program is subject to competition on the basis of prices paid for mortgage loans, customer service, and ancillary services, such as automated underwriting and loan servicing options. We compete primarily with other GSEs, such as Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other financial institutions and private investors for acquisition of conventional fixed rate mortgage loans.

Consolidated Obligations
Our primary source of funding is through the issuance of consolidated obligations. We compete with the U.S. Government, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and other GSEs as well as corporate, sovereign, and supranational entities for funds raised through the issuance of debt in the national and global debt markets. In the absence of increased demand, increased supply of competing debt products may result in higher debt costs or lesser amounts of debt issued at the same cost. Although our debt issuances have kept pace with the funding needs of our members, there can be no assurance that this will continue.