Item 1. Business
AGNC Investment Corp. ("AGNC," the "Company," "we," "us" and "our") was organized on January 7, 2008 and commenced operations on May 20, 2008 following the completion of our initial public offering. Our common stock is traded on The Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol "AGNC."
We are a leading provider of private capital to the U.S. housing market, enhancing liquidity in the residential real estate mortgage markets and, in turn, facilitating home ownership in the U.S. We invest primarily in Agency residential mortgage-backed securities ("Agency RMBS") on a leveraged basis. These investments consist of residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations for which the principal and interest payments are guaranteed by a U.S. Government-sponsored enterprise, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association ("Fannie Mae") and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation ("Freddie Mac," and together with Fannie Mae, the "GSEs"), or by a U.S. Government agency, such as the Government National Mortgage Association ("Ginnie Mae"). We may also invest in other assets related to the housing, mortgage or real estate markets that are not guaranteed by a GSE or U.S. Government agency.
We operate to qualify to be taxed as a real estate investment trust ("REIT") under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Internal Revenue Code"). As a REIT, we are required to distribute annually 90% of our taxable income. As a REIT, we will generally not be subject to U.S. federal or state corporate taxes on our taxable income to the extent that we distribute all our annual taxable income to our stockholders on a timely basis. It is our intention to distribute 100% of our taxable income within the time limits prescribed by the Internal Revenue Code, which may extend into the subsequent taxable year.
We are an internally managed REIT with the principal objective of providing our stockholders with attractive risk-adjusted returns through a combination of monthly dividends and tangible net book value accretion. We generate income from the interest earned on our investments, net of associated borrowing and hedging costs, and net realized gains and losses on our investment and hedging activities. We fund our investments primarily through collateralized borrowings structured as repurchase agreements.
Investment Strategy
Our investment strategy is intended to:
•generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders through monthly dividend distributions and tangible net book value accretion;
•manage an investment portfolio consisting primarily of Agency securities;
•invest a subset of the portfolio in credit-oriented and other assets related to the housing, mortgage or real estate markets that are not guaranteed by a GSE or U.S. Government agency;
•capitalize on discrepancies in the relative valuations in the Agency and non-Agency securities market;
•manage financing, interest rate, prepayment, extension and credit risks;
•continue to qualify as a REIT; and
•remain exempt from the requirements of the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the "Investment Company Act").
Targeted Investments
Agency Securities
•Agency Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities. Our primary investments consist of Agency pass-through certificates representing interests in "pools" of mortgage loans secured by residential real property. Monthly payments of principal and interest made by the individual borrowers on the mortgage loans underlying the pools are in effect "passed through" to the security holders, after deducting GSE or U.S. Government agency guarantee and servicer fees. In general, mortgage pass-through certificates distribute cash flows from the underlying collateral on a pro rata basis among the security holders. Security holders also receive guarantor advances of principal and interest for delinquent loans in the mortgage pools. We also invest in Agency collateralized mortgage obligations ("CMOs"), which are structured instruments representing interests in Agency residential pass-through certificates, and interest-only, inverse interest-only and principal-only securities, which represent the right to receive a specified proportion of the contractual interest or principal flows of specific Agency CMO securities.
•To-Be-Announced Forward Contracts ("TBAs"). TBAs are forward contracts to purchase or sell Agency RMBS. TBA contracts specify the coupon rate, issuer, term and face value of the bonds to be delivered, with the actual bonds to be delivered only identified shortly before the TBA settlement date.
Non-Agency Securities
•Credit Risk Transfer ("CRT") Securities. CRT securities are risk sharing instruments that transfer a portion of the risk associated with credit losses within pools of conventional residential mortgage loans from the GSEs and/or third- parties to private investors. Full repayment of the original principal balance of CRT securities is not guaranteed by the GSE or other third-party; rather, "credit risk transfer" is achieved by writing down the outstanding principal balance of the CRT security if credit losses on the related pool of loans exceed certain thresholds. The reduced amount that issuers are obligated to repay to the security holders offsets the issuer's credit losses on the related pool of loans.
•Non-Agency Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities ("Non-Agency RMBS"). Non-Agency RMBS are securities backed by pools of residential mortgages, for which payment of principal and interest is not guaranteed by a GSE or U.S. Government agency. Instead, a private institution such as a commercial bank will package residential mortgage loans and securitize them through the issuance of RMBS. Non-Agency RMBS may benefit from credit enhancement derived from structural elements, such as subordination, overcollateralization or insurance. We may purchase investment grade instruments that benefit from credit enhancement and non-investment grade instruments that are structured to absorb more credit risk. We focus primarily on non-Agency securities where the underlying mortgages are secured by residential properties within the United States. Residential non-Agency securities are backed by residential mortgages that can be comprised of prime, non-prime, qualified and non-qualified mortgage loans. We may also purchase Agency and non-Agency multifamily securities where the collateral backing the securitization consists of loans for multi-unit housing properties.
•Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities ("CMBS"). CMBS are securities backed by pools of commercial mortgage loans. CMBS can be structured as pass-through securities, where the cash flows generated by the collateral pool are passed on a pro rata basis to investors after netting servicer or other fees, or where cash flows are distributed to numerous classes of securities following a predetermined waterfall, which may give priority to selected classes while subordinating other classes. We may invest across the capital structure of these securities, and we intend to focus on CMBS where the underlying collateral is secured by commercial properties located within the United States.
Active Portfolio Management Strategy
We employ an active management strategy designed to achieve our principal objectives of generating attractive risk-adjusted returns and managing our tangible net book value within reasonable bands. As part of our investment strategy, we use leverage on our investment portfolio to increase potential returns to our stockholders. We invest in securities based on our assessment of the relative risk-return profile of the securities and our ability to effectively hedge a portion of the securities' exposure to market risks. The composition of our portfolio and strategies that we use will vary based on our view of prevailing market conditions and the availability of suitable investment, hedging and funding opportunities. We may experience investment gains or losses when we sell securities that we believe no longer provide attractive risk-adjusted returns or when we believe more attractive alternatives exist elsewhere in the mortgage or mortgage-related securities market. We may also experience gains or losses from our hedging strategies and losses on our non-Agency securities due to credit impairments.
Financing Strategy
The primary source of financing for our investments is repurchase agreement transactions. A repurchase (or "repo") agreement transaction acts as a financing arrangement under which we effectively pledge our investment securities as collateral to secure a loan. Our borrowings through repurchase transactions are generally short-term and have maturities ranging from one day to one year but may have maturities up to five or more years. Our financing rates are typically impacted by the U.S. federal funds rate and other short-term benchmark rates and liquidity in the Agency repo and other short-term funding markets.
Our leverage depends on market conditions, our assessment of risk and returns and our ability to borrow sufficient funds to acquire mortgage securities. We generally expect our leverage to be within six to twelve times the amount of our tangible stockholders' equity. However, under certain market conditions, we may operate at leverage levels outside of this range for extended periods of time.
We diversify our funding exposure by entering into repurchase agreements with multiple counterparties. The terms of our master repurchase agreements generally conform to the terms in the standard master repurchase agreement as published by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association ("SIFMA") as to repayment, margin requirements and the segregation of
all securities sold under the repurchase transaction. In addition, each lender may require that we include supplemental terms and conditions to the standard master repurchase agreement to address such matters as additional margin maintenance requirements, cross default and other provisions. The specific provisions may differ for each lender and certain terms may not be determined until we engage in individual repurchase transactions.
We finance a portion of our investments through our wholly-owned captive broker-dealer subsidiary, Bethesda Securities, LLC ("BES"). BES is a member of the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation ("FICC") and has direct access to bilateral and triparty repo funding as a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA") member broker-dealer. As an eligible institution, BES also raises repo funding through the General Collateral Finance ("GCF") Repo service offered by the FICC, with the FICC acting as the central counterparty, which provides us greater depth and diversity of repurchase agreement funding while also lowering our funding cost, reducing our collateral requirements and limiting our counterparty exposure.
We also effectively finance the acquisition of Agency RMBS by entering into TBA dollar roll transactions through which we sell a TBA contract for current month settlement and simultaneously purchase a similar TBA contract for a forward settlement date. Prior to the forward settlement date, we may choose to roll the position to a later date by entering into an offsetting TBA position, net settling the paired off positions for cash, and simultaneously entering into a similar TBA contract for a forward settlement date. The TBA contract purchased for the forward settlement date is priced at a discount to the TBA contract sold for settlement/pair off in the current month. The difference (or discount) is referred to as the "price drop" and is the economic equivalent of net interest carry income (interest income less implied financing cost) on the underlying Agency RMBS over the roll period, which is commonly referred to as "dollar roll income." We recognize TBA contracts as derivative instruments on our consolidated financial statements at their net carrying value, which is their fair value less the purchase price to be paid or received under the TBA contract. Consequently, dollar roll transactions represent a form of off-balance sheet financing. In evaluating our overall leverage, we consider both our on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet financing.
Risk Management Strategy
We are exposed to a variety of market risks, including interest rate, prepayment, extension and credit risks. Our investment strategies are based on our assessment of these risks, our ability to hedge a portion of these risks and our intention to qualify as a REIT. Our hedging strategies are generally not designed to protect our net book value from "spread risk," which as a levered investor in mortgage-backed securities is the inherent risk we take that the spread between the market yield on our investments and the benchmark interest rates linked to our interest rate hedges fluctuates. In addition, although we attempt to protect our net book value against moves in interest rates, we may not fully hedge against interest rate, prepayment and extension risks if we believe that bearing such risks enhances our return profile, or if the hedging transaction would negatively impact our REIT status.
•Interest Rate Risk. We hedge a portion of our interest rate risk with respect to both the fixed income nature of our long-term assets and the short-term, variable rate nature of our financing. A majority of our funding is in the form of repurchase agreements, and, as a result, our financing costs fluctuate based on short-term benchmark rates, such as the U.S. federal funds rate, Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR"), and three-month London Interbank Offered Rate ("LIBOR"). Our investments are assets that primarily have fixed rates of interest with maturities up to 30 years, and the interest we earn on those assets generally does not move in tandem with the interest that we pay on our repurchase agreements. As such, we may experience reduced income or losses due to adverse interest rate movements. To mitigate a portion of such risk, we utilize hedging techniques to attempt to lock in a portion of the net interest spread between the interest we earn on our assets and the interest we pay on our borrowings.
Fluctuations in the shape of the yield curve or changes in the market's expectation about future interest rate volatility can also adversely affect the value of our assets. Furthermore, because prepayments on residential mortgages generally accelerate when interest rates decrease and slow when interest rates rise, mortgage securities may increase in value more slowly than similar duration bonds, or even fall in value, as interest rates decline. Mortgage securities could also decrease in value more quickly than similar duration bonds as interest rates rise. This is referred to as "negative convexity." We attempt to manage this risk through asset selection and the use of a variety of hedging techniques. We monitor the "duration gap" of our portfolio, or differences in the interest rate sensitivity of our assets relative to our liabilities, inclusive of interest rate hedges, and how our convexity and duration gap could change if interest rates and prepayment expectations were to increase or decrease under a variety of scenarios.
•Prepayment Risk. Because residential borrowers have the option to prepay their mortgage loans at par at any time, we face the risk that we will experience a return of principal on our investments faster than anticipated. Prepayment risk generally increases when interest rates decline, and our financial results could be adversely affected as we may have to reinvest principal repayments at lower yields.
•Extension Risk. Because residential borrowers have the option to make only scheduled payments on their mortgage loans, we face the risk that a return of capital on our investment will occur slower than anticipated. Extension risk generally increases when interest rates rise, and our financial results could be adversely affected as we may have to finance our investments at potentially higher costs without the ability to simultaneously reinvest principal repayments into higher yielding securities due to a lack of or slower than anticipated borrower prepayments.
•Spread Risk. Because the market spread between the yield on our investments and the yield on benchmark interest rates, such as U.S. Treasury rates and interest rate swap rates, may vary, we are exposed to spread risk. When spreads widen, we will typically experience a loss in our tangible net book value, conversely, when spreads tighten, we will typically experience a gain in our tangible net book value. Spread movements can occur independent of interest rates and may relate to other factors impacting the mortgage and fixed income markets, such as actual or anticipated monetary policy actions by the U.S. Federal Reserve (the "Fed"), liquidity, or changes in required rates of return on different assets. Spread risk is an inherent risk we take as a levered investor in mortgage-backed securities and, as such, our strategies are generally not designed to protect our tangible net book value from adverse spread movements.
•Credit Risk. We accept mortgage credit exposure related to our CRT and other non-Agency securities at levels we deem to be appropriate within the context of our overall investment strategy. We attempt to manage this risk through prudent asset selection, pre-acquisition due diligence, post-acquisition performance monitoring, and sale of assets where we identify negative credit trends. We may also manage credit risk with credit default swaps or other financial derivatives that we believe are appropriate. Additionally, we may attempt to adjust our credit exposure and/or to improve the return profile of our investment portfolio by varying the mix of our Agency and non-Agency mortgage investments and adjusting our duration gap when we believe credit performance is inversely correlated with changes in interest rates.
Our risk management actions may lower our earnings and dividends in the short-term to further our objective of preserving our net book value and maintaining attractive levels of earnings and dividends over the long-term. In addition, some of our hedges are intended to provide protection against larger rate moves and as a result may be relatively ineffective for smaller interest rate changes. Our projections of exposures to interest rate, prepayment, extension and other risks are also based on models that are dependent on a number of assumptions and inputs, and actual results could differ materially from our projections.
Exemption from Regulation under the Investment Company Act
We conduct our business so as not to become regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, in reliance on the exemption provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the Act. So long as we qualify for this exemption, we will not be subject to leverage and other restrictions imposed on registered investment companies, which would significantly reduce our ability to use leverage. Section 3(c)(5)(C), as interpreted by the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), requires us to invest at least 55% of our assets in "mortgages and other liens on and interest in real estate" or "qualifying real estate interests" ("55% asset test") and at least 80% of our assets in qualifying real estate interests and "real estate-related assets." In satisfying this 55% requirement, based on pronouncements of the SEC staff and in certain instances our own judgment, we treat Agency RMBS issued with respect to an underlying pool of mortgage loans in which we hold all the certificates issued by the pool ("whole pool" securities) as qualifying real estate interests. We typically treat "partial pool" and other mortgage securities where we hold less than all the certificates issued by the pool as real estate-related assets.
Real Estate Investment Trust Requirements
We have elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Internal Revenue Code. As a REIT, we generally will not be subject to U.S. federal or state corporate income tax on our taxable income to the extent that we distribute annually all our taxable income to stockholders within the time limits prescribed by the Internal Revenue Code. Qualification and taxation as a REIT depend on our ability to continually meet requirements imposed upon REITs by the Internal Revenue Code, including satisfying certain organizational requirements, an annual distribution requirement and quarterly asset and annual income tests. The REIT asset and income tests are significant to our operations as they restrict the extent to which we can invest in certain types of securities and conduct certain hedging activities within the REIT. Consequently, we may be required to limit these activities or conduct them through a taxable REIT subsidiary ("TRS"). We believe that we have been organized and operate in such a manner as to qualify for taxation as a REIT.
Income Tests
To continue to qualify as a REIT, we must satisfy two gross income requirements on an annual basis.
1.At least 75% of our gross income for each taxable year generally must be derived from investments in real property or mortgages on real property.
2.At least 95% of our gross income in each taxable year generally must be derived from some combination of income that qualifies under the 75% gross income test described above, as well as other dividends, interest, and gains from the sale or disposition of stock or securities, which need not have any relation to real property.
Interest income from obligations secured by mortgages on real property (such as Agency and non-Agency MBS) generally constitutes qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test described above. There is no direct authority with respect to the qualification of income or gains from TBAs for the 75% gross income test; however, we treat these as qualifying income for this purpose based on an opinion of legal counsel. The treatment of interest income from other real estate securities depends on their specific tax structure. Income and gains from instruments that we use to hedge the interest rate risk associated with our borrowings incurred, or to be incurred, to acquire real estate assets will generally be excluded from both gross income tests, provided that specified requirements are met.
Asset Tests
At the close of each calendar quarter, we must satisfy five tests relating to the nature of our assets.
1.At least 75% of the value of our total assets must be represented by some combination of "real estate assets," cash, cash items, U.S. Government securities, and, under some circumstances, temporary investments in stock or debt instruments purchased with new capital. For this purpose, mortgage-backed securities and mortgage loans are generally treated as "real estate assets." Assets that do not qualify for purposes of the 75% asset test are subject to the additional asset tests described below.
2.The value of any one issuer's securities that we own may not exceed 5% of the value of our total assets.
3.We may not own more than 10% of any one issuer's outstanding securities, as measured by either voting power or value. The 5% and 10% asset tests do not apply to securities of TRSs and qualified REIT subsidiaries and the 10% asset test does not apply to "straight debt" having specified characteristics and to certain other securities.
4.The aggregate value of all securities of all TRSs that we hold may not exceed 20% of the value of our total assets.
5.No more than 25% of the total value of our assets may be represented by certain non-mortgage debt instruments issued by publicly offered REITs (even though such debt instruments qualify under the 75% asset test).
A failure to satisfy the income or asset tests would not immediately cause us to lose our REIT qualification; rather, we could retain our REIT qualification if we were able to satisfy certain relief provisions and pay any applicable penalty taxes and other fines, or, in the case of a failure to satisfy the asset test, eliminate the discrepancy within a 30-day cure period. Please also refer to the "Risks Related to Our Taxation as a REIT" in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" of this Form 10-K for further discussion of REIT qualification requirements and related items.
Human Capital Management
We believe our success as a company ultimately depends on the strength, wellness, and dedication of our workforce. We pride ourselves on robust practices in the area of human capital management that are constantly evolving to meet the needs of our people. As of December 31, 2020, our workforce consisted of 50 full-time employees. We strive to provide each of our highly skilled employees an engaging, rewarding, supportive, and inclusive atmosphere in which to grow professionally. Our competitive and comprehensive benefits package is carefully designed to attract and retain talented personnel. We believe our low voluntary employee turnover and favorable employee survey results are a testament to the success of our human capital management initiatives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Employee Turnover Metrics
|
Year
|
|
January 1
|
|
Terminations 1
|
|
New Hires
|
|
December 31
|
2020
|
|
51
|
|
-1
|
|
0
|
|
50
|
2019
|
|
56
|
|
-6
|
|
1
|
|
51
|
2018
|
|
56
|
|
-2
|
|
2
|
|
56
|
________________________________
1.Employee terminations include voluntary and involuntary terminations. Terminations during 2018 and 2019 were primarily associated with the termination of MTGE Investment Corp.’s management services agreement with our subsidiary MTGE Management, LLC due to the sale of MTGE Investment Corp. to a third party in 2018.
Employee Communications and Engagement
We recognize the importance of ongoing open communication and engagement with our employees, and we greatly value their input. We regularly engage with our employees in a variety of ways through regular feedback with each member of our staff, anonymous employee surveys and frequent town hall meetings.
Our anonymous employee surveys are a key component of our employee engagement that provide a means of assessing job satisfaction and specific concerns of our employees. To enhance the candor and comfort of our employees, we use an outside vendor that provides verbatim comments and analysis of engagement levels on an anonymous basis. A recent anonymous employee survey indicated the Company had a satisfaction rating above 90% in many areas, including AGNC’s treatment of its employees, physical working conditions, commitment to integrity, and overall culture and environment. Based on the results of our surveys, our Board and management have implemented various ideas and recommendations received from employees.
Workplace Culture and Ethics
Our corporate culture promotes open and honest communication, fair treatment, collegiality and high ethics and compliance standards. Our Code of Ethics and Conduct ("Code of Conduct") applies to all directors, officers and employees and provides clear expectations and guidance to facilitate appropriate decisioning. Our Code of Conduct covers topics such as compliance with securities laws, conflicts of interest, giving and receiving gifts, discrimination, harassment, privacy, appropriate use of Company assets, protecting confidential information, and reporting Code of Conduct violations (including through an anonymous hotline). All employees are required to affirm their understanding of these standards on at least an annual basis. Our executive officers and human resources department maintain "open door" policies and any form of retaliation for bona fide reporting of Code of Conduct violations is expressly prohibited.
Employee Development
We have a number of policies and programs to further the professional development of our employees, including our professional certification and continuing education policy. This includes reimbursement for any supervisor-approved courses for our employees. We also maintain a regular "Lunch and Learn" series and recently launched a formal mentoring program for employees to provide direct one-on-one career guidance and cross-functional experience across various operations. These initiatives have advanced unique and professional skill sets throughout the organization.
Diversity and Inclusion
Central to our core values is that every individual deserves respect and equal treatment, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, cultural background or religious belief. We strive to have a diverse workforce and an inclusive and welcoming work environment that is free from wrongful discrimination. We have long maintained policies against discrimination and harassment in our workplace. Although we have a relatively small workforce and low turnover rate, our recruitment and hiring practices attempt to ensure the diversity of applicant pools for posted job openings. We also seek to engage our employees and provide them opportunities on a non-discriminatory and inclusive basis. As of December 31, 2020, 43% of our employees were women and 33% were ethnically diverse. Our Board also strives to maintain diversity and inclusion among its directors. As of December 31, 2020, three of seven directors were women and one director was ethnically diverse.
Compensation and Benefits
We seek to attract and retain the most talented employees in our industry by offering competitive compensation and benefits. Our pay-for-performance compensation philosophy is based on rewarding each employee’s individual contributions through a combination of fixed and variable pay elements. Each employee receives a total compensation package that includes base salary, short-term incentives in the form of an annual cash bonus and long-term equity incentives. The proportion of each employee’s variable incentive versus fixed-based elements of their compensation is directly correlated to the individual’s level of responsibility and role in the organization. Generally, higher level employees have higher proportions of variable incentive-based compensation in their target mix. Similarly, within the incentive-based elements, the proportion of long-term incentive-based elements generally increases with the individual’s level of responsibility in the organization.
As the success of our business is fundamentally connected to the well-being of our people, we offer benefits that support their physical, financial and emotional well-being. We provide our employees with access to flexible, comprehensive and convenient medical coverage intended to meet their needs and the needs of their families. In addition to standard medical coverage, we offer employees dental and vision coverage, health savings and flexible spending accounts, paid time off, employee assistance programs, voluntary short-term and long-term disability insurance, term life insurance and other benefits.
We also believe in the long-term financial wellness of our employees, and to foster maximum savings rates by our employees we offer a 401(k) Savings Plan and Company matching contributions of 100% up to 6% of each employee’s eligible compensation, subject to IRS limits.
COVID-19 and Workforce Safety
To protect the health and safety of our workforce, during the COVID-19 pandemic (the "Pandemic" or "COVID-19"), we shifted to a fully remote work-from home environment prior to any jurisdiction’s mandate to do so. We also instituted a survey in mid-2020 to understand our employees' perspective during the extreme circumstances brought about by the Pandemic, including work-from-home environment and resource issues, employee mental health and wellbeing, child-care considerations and similar matters. We used their feedback to inform decisions regarding matters such as implementing flexible work schedules, providing additional resources and equipment to improve our employees work from home experience, and demonstrating flexibility with respect to the timing and manner of eventual office re-openings. Finally, we hosted town hall meetings on a frequent basis – including weekly during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic in March and April and on a monthly basis thereafter – to ensure sufficient company-wide communication with our workforce during this time. Employee survey results indicated that 100% of our employees believe we responded to the COVID-19 outbreak very well or extremely well.
Competition
Our success depends, in large part, on our ability to acquire assets at favorable spreads over our borrowing costs. In acquiring mortgage assets, we compete with mortgage REITs, mortgage finance and specialty finance companies, savings and loan associations, banks, mortgage bankers, insurance companies, mutual funds, institutional investors, investment banking firms, other lenders, governmental bodies and other entities. These entities and others that may be organized in the future may have similar asset acquisition objectives and increase competition for the available supply of mortgage assets suitable for purchase. Additionally, our investment strategy is dependent on the amount of financing available to us through repurchase agreements and would be adversely impacted if we are not able to secure financing on favorable terms, if at all.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at Two Bethesda Metro Center, 12th Floor, Bethesda, MD 20814 and our telephone number is (301) 968-9315.
We make available our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to such reports as well as our Code of Ethics and Conduct on our internet website at www.AGNC.com as soon as reasonably practical after such material is electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. These reports are also available on the SEC internet website at www.sec.gov.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
You should carefully consider the risks described below and all other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our annual consolidated financial statements and the related notes thereto before deciding to purchase our securities. If any of the following risks were to occur, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected. If that happens, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or not presently deemed material by us, may also impair our operations and performance.
Risks Related to Our Investment and Portfolio Management Activities
We may change our targeted investments, investment guidelines and other operational policies without stockholder consent.
We may change our targeted investments and investment guidelines at any time without the consent of our stockholders, which could result in our making investments that are different from, and possibly riskier than, those described in this Annual Report or under our current guidelines. Our Board of Directors also determines our other operational policies, including our policies with respect to our REIT qualification, acquisitions, dispositions, operations, indebtedness and distributions. Our Board of Directors may amend or revise such policies or authorize transactions that deviate from them, without a vote of, or notice to, our stockholders. Any such change may increase our exposure to risks described herein or expose us to new risks that are not currently contemplated, which could materially impair our operations and financial performance.
The human and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and related events are uncertain and may negatively impact our business.
The global outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has extracted a significant human toll and adversely affected both the U.S. and global economies. Our business was materially impacted by the severe market disruptions and volatility resulting from the Pandemic in March and April 2020. (See Recent Trends and Market Impacts under Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations of this Form 10-K for additional information). While the U.S. government and the Fed have taken actions to reduce the negative impacts of the Pandemic, and several vaccines have begun to be deployed, the extent and rate at which these actions will be effective over the longer-term are unclear, and further fiscal, monetary or other actions may be required but are not assured. Furthermore, if new, potentially more severe strains of the virus emerge, adverse conditions could persist or worsen leading to further economic and financial market instability. There may also be unintended adverse consequences resulting from the magnitude of the Fed’s stimulative measures and other actions of other policy makers that could negatively impact our business. For example:
•we may experience elevated rates of prepayments on our portfolio due to lower mortgage rates resulting from the Fed’s ongoing asset purchase program or buyouts of delinquent loans from the pools of mortgages underlying our Agency RMBS by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;
•an actual or anticipated reduction in the Fed’s asset purchase program or other stimulative policy measures may expose us to materially higher mortgage spread, interest rate and market volatility risks as well as lead to less favorable or potentially negative conditions in the TBA dollar roll and repo funding markets; and
•we may be exposed to increased model and forecast risks due to a lack of relevant or reliable historical correlations due to the unprecedented conditions and policy measures associated with the Pandemic.
We may be unable to take actions necessary to mitigate these or other adverse consequences resulting from the Pandemic or they may be ineffective. Consequently, our operating results may be impaired, and we could incur significant losses.
Our active portfolio management strategy may expose us to greater losses and lower returns than compared to passive strategies.
We employ an active management strategy to achieve our principal objective of preserving our tangible net book value while generating attractive risk-adjusted returns. The composition of our investment portfolio, leverage ratio and hedge composition will vary as we believe changes to market conditions, risks and valuations warrant. We may experience significant investment gains or losses when we sell investments that we no longer believe provide attractive risk-adjusted returns or when we believe more attractive alternatives are available. We may be incorrect in our assessment and select an investment portfolio that may generate lower returns than a more static management strategy. Furthermore, because of our active strategy, investors may be unable to assess changes in our financial position solely by observing changes in the mortgage market.
The Fed’s participation in the Agency mortgage market could adversely affect the value of and returns on Agency RMBS.
In March 2020, the Fed launched a series of quantitative easing measures and began unprecedented large-scale purchases of U.S. Treasury securities and Agency RMBS to restore proper market functioning and the flow of credit to U.S. households and businesses disrupted by the COVID-19 financial crisis. Although its position on these matters may change over time, the Fed has stated its intent to maintain accommodative monetary policies until its objectives of maximum employment and a long-term average target inflation rate of 2% are achieved and that it will continue to increase its holdings of Treasury securities and Agency RMBS until substantial further progress has been made towards these goals. There is no certainty that these programs will be continued, and the Fed may determine to reduce its level of purchases, curtail reinvestment in Agency RMBS or engage in outright sales.
The Fed’s involvement in the Agency mortgage market can materially impact the availability, price and returns associated with Agency RMBS. As of December 31, 2020, the Fed owned approximately 30% of all outstanding Agency RMBS. When the Fed is actively purchasing securities, asset prices and liquidity typically increase, but we may simultaneously experience materially faster rates of prepayment and we may be unable to reinvest the repayments at acceptable yields. The Fed’s participation may also adversely impact mortgage spreads. For example, mortgage spreads could widen due to increased prepayment risk when the Fed is actively conducting asset purchases. Mortgage spreads may also widen due to an actual or anticipated reduction in the Fed’s asset purchases, reinvestment rate or outright sales. Given the scale of the Fed’s asset purchases, the adverse effects of the Fed’s involvement in the Agency mortgage market (and the timing and effects of any changes in Fed programs) may be difficult to predict and could result in a material decline in our financial position. In an attempt to mitigate the impact of spread widening, we may reduce our leverage to below our normal target leverage range. We may also attempt to adjust our asset and hedge composition, but these and other actions we may take could be ill timed or ineffective.
A decline in the fair value of our assets may adversely affect our financial condition and make it costlier to finance our assets.
We record our investments at fair value with changes in fair value reported in net income or other comprehensive income. A decline in the fair value of our investments could reduce both our net income and stockholders' equity. We also use our investments as collateral for our financings and certain hedge transactions; consequently, a decline in fair value, or perceived market uncertainty about the value of our assets, could make it difficult for us to obtain financing on favorable terms or at all, or for us to maintain our compliance with terms of agreements already in place. Since we primarily invest in long-term fixed rate securities, our investment portfolio is particularly sensitive to changes in longer-term interest rates. If interest rates or other market conditions result in a decline in the fair value of our assets, we would be subject to margin calls on our existing agreements and it would decrease the amount we may borrow to purchase additional investments. If this occurs, we could be required to sell assets at adverse prices and our ability to maintain or increase our net income would be significantly restricted.
Changes in prepayment rates may adversely affect the return on our investments.
Our investment portfolio includes securities backed by pools of mortgage loans, which receive payments related to the underlying mortgage loans. When borrowers prepay their mortgage loans at rates faster or slower than anticipated, it exposes us to prepayment or extension risk. Generally, prepayments increase during periods of falling mortgage interest rates and decrease during periods of rising mortgage interest rates. However, this may not always be the case as other factors can affect the rate of prepayments, including loan age and size, loan-to-value ratios, housing price trends, general economic conditions and other factors.
If our assets prepay at a faster rate than anticipated, we may be unable to reinvest the repayments at acceptable yields. If the proceeds are reinvested at lower yields than our existing assets, our net interest margins would be negatively impacted. We also amortize or accrete into interest income any premiums and discounts we pay or receive at purchase relative to the stated principal of our assets over their projected lives using the effective interest method. If the actual and estimated future prepayment experience differs from our prior estimates, we are required to record an adjustment to interest income for the impact of the cumulative difference in the effective yield, which could negatively affect our interest income.
If our assets prepay at a slower rate than anticipated, our assets could extend beyond their expected maturities and we may have to finance our investments at potentially higher costs without the ability to reinvest principal into higher yielding securities. Additionally, if prepayment rates decrease due to a rising interest rate environment, the average life or duration of our fixed-rate assets would extend, but our interest rate swap maturities would remain fixed and, therefore, cover a smaller percentage of our funding exposure. This situation may also cause the market value of our assets to decline, while most of our hedging instruments would not receive any incremental offsetting gains.
To the extent that actual prepayment speeds differ from our expectations, our operating results could be adversely affected, and we could be forced to sell assets to maintain adequate liquidity, which could cause us to incur realized losses. In addition, should significant prepayments occur, there is no certainty that we will be able to identify acceptable new investments, which could reduce our invested capital or result in us investing in less favorable securities.
Prepayment rates are difficult to predict, and market conditions and technology advancements in mortgage origination channels may disrupt the historical correlation between interest rate changes and prepayment trends.
Our success depends on our ability to predict prepayment behavior under a variety of economic conditions and particularly the relationship between changing interest rates and other market conditions and the rate of prepayments. As part of our overall portfolio risk management, we analyze interest rate changes and prepayment trends to assess their effects on our investment portfolio. Our analysis is based on models that depend on multiple assumptions and inputs. Many of the assumptions we use are based upon historical trends with respect to the relationship between interest rates and prepayments under normal market conditions, which may not correctly predict future prepayment activity. Dislocations in the residential mortgage market and other developments may disrupt the relationship between the way that prepayment trends have historically responded to interest rate changes and our actual prepayment experience.
Prepayment rates are also impacted by other factors beyond interest rates, such as when borrowers sell their property and use the proceeds to prepay their mortgage or when borrowers default on their mortgages and the defaulted loans are either purchased from the RMBS trust or the mortgages are prepaid from the proceeds of a foreclosure sale of the property. Historically, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac repurchased mortgages that are 120 days or more delinquent from RMBS trusts. However, in response to the unprecedented circumstances of COVID-19, the GSEs temporarily extended the timeline for repurchasing delinquent loans that are in forbearance. The GSE delinquent loan buyout policy was further modified on September 30, 2020 to extend the timeline for its delinquent loan buyout trigger from 4 consecutively missed monthly payments to 24 consecutively missed monthly payments. However, most delinquent loans are likely to be repurchased before
the 24-month period expires for numerous reasons, including repayment or satisfaction in full, debt forgiveness, repurchases by seller/servicers under their guidelines, loan modifications, short-sales or deeds in lieu of foreclosure or referrals of loans to foreclosure. There is no guarantee that the GSEs will continue to defer buyouts of loans from the RMBS trusts during the forbearance period. Thus, the large number of loans currently delinquent or in forbearance could accelerate prepayments on our investment portfolio.
Changes to or new U.S. Government programs could also increase the availability of mortgage credit to homeowners, which could impact prepayment rates. Furthermore, current and future technological advancements are expected to improve efficiencies in mortgage origination and servicing, which may reduce borrowing costs and increase the rate of prepayment activity. The impacts of these factors are difficult to predict and may negatively affect our ability to assess prepayment risk or to implement effective hedging strategies and other techniques to reduce our exposure to prepayment risk.
The analytical models and third-party data that we rely on to manage our portfolio and conduct our business objectives may be incorrect, misleading or incomplete.
We use analytical models, data and other information to value assets, assess potential asset purchases and in connection with our risk management and hedging activities. We may source our models and data from third-parties or develop them internally. Models are dependent on multiple assumptions and inputs. Models typically also assume a static portfolio. If either the models, their underlying assumptions or data inputs prove to be incorrect, misleading or incomplete, any decisions we make in reliance on such information may be faulty and expose us to potential risks.
Many of the analytical models we use are predictive in nature, such as mortgage prepayment and default models. The use of predictive models has inherent risks and may incorrectly forecast future behavior, leading to potential losses. Furthermore, since predictive models are usually constructed based on historical trends using data supplied by third parties, the success of relying on such models depends heavily on the accuracy and reliability of the supplied historical data. Additionally, multiple factors could disrupt the relationships between data and historical trends, reducing the ability of our models to predict future outcomes, or even render them invalid. We are at greater risk of this occurring during periods of high volatility or unprecedented financial or economic events, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, actual results could differ materially from our projections. Moreover, use of different models could result in materially different projections.
Valuation models rely on the accuracy of market data inputs. If incorrect market data is entered into even a well-founded valuation model, the resulting valuations will be incorrect. However, even if market data is inputted correctly, "model prices" may differ substantially from market prices, especially for securities with complex characteristics or illiquid instruments. Analytical models and third-party data used to analyze securitizations backed by non-Agency and residential and commercial mortgages also expose us to the risk that the (i) collateral cash flows and/or liability structures may be incorrectly modeled in all or only certain scenarios, or may be modeled based on simplifying assumptions that lead to errors; (ii) information about collateral may be incorrect, incomplete or misleading; (iii) collateral or bond historical performance (such as historical prepayments, defaults, cash flows, etc.) may be incorrectly reported, or subject to interpretation (e.g., different issuers may report delinquency statistics based on different definitions of what constitutes a delinquent loan); or (iv) collateral or bond information may be outdated, in which case the models may contain incorrect assumptions as to what has occurred since the date information was last updated.
The models we use may include LIBOR as an input. The expected transition away from LIBOR may require changes to these models that may change the underlying economic relationships being modeled and the models may be run with less historical data than is currently available for LIBOR.
The fair value of our investments may not be readily determinable or may be materially different from the value that we ultimately realize upon their disposal.
We measure the fair value of our investments in accordance with guidance set forth in Accounting Standards Codification Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures. Fair value is only an estimate based on good faith judgment of the price at which an investment can be sold since market prices of investments can only be determined by negotiation between a willing buyer and seller. Our determination of the fair value of our investments includes inputs provided by pricing services and third-party dealers. Valuations of certain investments in which we invest may be difficult to obtain or unreliable. In general, pricing services and dealers heavily disclaim their valuations and we do not have recourse against them in the event of inaccurate price quotes or other inputs used to determine the fair value of our investments. Depending on the complexity and illiquidity of a security, valuations of the same security can vary substantially from one pricing service or dealer to another. Moreover, fair value and estimates of fair value may fluctuate over short periods of time. For these reasons, the fair value at which our investments are recorded may not be an accurate indication of their realizable value. The ultimate realization of the value of an asset depends on economic and other conditions that are beyond our control. Consequently, if we were to sell an asset,
particularly in a forced liquidation, the realized value may be less than the amount at which the asset is recorded, which would negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.
The mortgage loans referenced by our CRT securities or that underlie our non-Agency securities may be or could become subject to delinquency or foreclosure, which could result in significant losses to us.
Investments in credit-oriented securities, such as CRT securities and non-Agency MBS, where repayment of principal and interest is not guaranteed by a GSE or U.S. Government agency, subject us to the potential risk of loss of principal and/or interest due to delinquency, foreclosure and related losses on the underlying mortgage loans.
CRT securities are risk sharing instruments issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and similarly structured transactions arranged by third-party market participants, that are designed to synthetically transfer mortgage credit risk from the issuing entity to private investors. The transactions are structured as unsecured and unguaranteed bonds whose principal payments are determined by the delinquency and prepayment experience of a reference pool of mortgages guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. An investor in CRT securities bears the risk that the borrowers in the reference pool of loans may default on their obligations to make full and timely payments of principal and interest.
Residential mortgage loans underlying non-Agency RMBS are secured by residential property and are subject to risks of delinquency, foreclosure and loss. The ability of a borrower to repay a loan secured by residential property is dependent upon the income or assets of the borrower. Many factors could impair a borrower's ability to repay the loan, including loss of employment, divorce, illness, acts of God (including pandemics), acts of war or terrorism, adverse changes in economic and market conditions, changes in laws and regulations, changes in fiscal policies and zoning ordinances, costs of remediation and liabilities associated with environmental conditions such as mold, and the potential for uninsured or under-insured property losses.
Commercial mortgage loans underlying CMBS are generally secured by multifamily or other commercial properties and are subject to risks of delinquency and foreclosure and risks of loss that are greater than similar risks associated with loans made on the security of residential property. The ability of a borrower to repay a loan secured by an income-producing property typically is dependent primarily upon the successful operation of such property rather than upon the existence of independent income or assets of the borrower. If the net operating income of the property is reduced, the borrower's ability to repay the loan may be impaired. Net operating income of an income producing property can be affected by numerous factors, such as: occupancy rates, tenant mix, success of tenant businesses, property management decisions, property location and condition, changes in economic or operating conditions (such as a pandemic) and other factors.
Geographic concentration of our assets can expose us to greater risk of default and loss. Repayments by borrowers and the market value of the related assets underlying our investments are affected by national as well as local and regional economic and other conditions. As a result, concentrations of investments tied to geographic regions increase the risk that adverse economic conditions or other developments affecting a region could increase the frequency and severity of losses on our investments. Additionally, assets in certain regional areas may be more susceptible to certain hazards (such as earthquakes, widespread fires, rising sea levels, disease, floods, hurricanes and certain climate risks) than properties in other parts of the country, and assets located in coastal states may be more susceptible to hurricanes or sea level rise than properties in other parts of the country. Areas affected by these types of events often experience disruptions in travel, transportation and tourism, loss of jobs, a decrease in consumer activity, and a decline in real estate-related investments, and their economies may not recover sufficiently to support income producing real estate at pre-event levels. These types of occurrences may increase over time or become more severe due to changes in weather patterns and other climate changes.
Private mortgage insurance may not cover losses on loans referenced to or underlying our CRT and non-Agency RMBS.
In certain instances, mortgage loans referenced to our CRT securities or underlying our non-Agency RMBS may have private mortgage insurance. This insurance is often structured to absorb only a portion of the loss if a loan defaults and, as such, we may be exposed to losses on these loans greater than the mortgage insurance. Rescission and denial of mortgage insurance may affect the ability to collect on this insurance. If private mortgage insurers fail to remit insurance payments for insured portions of loans when losses are incurred and where applicable, whether due to breach of contract or to an insurer's insolvency, we may experience a loss on related CRT or non-Agency RMBS securities for the amount that was insured by such insurers.
Changes in credit spreads may adversely affect our profitability.
A significant component of the fair value of CRT and non-Agency securities and other credit risk-oriented investments is attributable to the credit spread, or the difference between the value of the credit instrument and the value of a financial instrument with similar interest rate exposure, but with no credit risk, such as a U.S. Treasury note. Credit spreads can be highly volatile and may fluctuate due to changes in economic conditions, liquidity, investor demand and other factors. Credits spreads
typically widen in times of increased market uncertainty or when economic conditions have or are expected to deteriorate. Credit spreads may also widen due to actual or anticipated rating downgrades on the securities we hold or similar securities. Hedging fair value changes associated with credit spreads can be inefficient and our hedging strategies are generally not designed to mitigate credit spread risk. Consequently, changes in credit spreads could adversely affect our profitability and financial condition.
Actions of the U.S. Government, including the U.S. Congress, Fed, U.S. Treasury, Federal Housing Finance Administration ("FHFA") and other governmental and regulatory bodies may adversely affect our business.
U.S. Government actions may have an adverse impact on the financial markets. To the extent the markets do not respond favorably to any such actions or such actions do not function as intended, they could have broad adverse market implications and could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. U.S. banking and financial regulators have begun to examine root causes of financial dislocations that occurred in March and April 2020 in response to the Pandemic and to identify areas for potential regulatory reforms that may be adopted in the future. New regulatory requirements could adversely affect the availability or terms of financing from our lender counterparties, impose more stringent capital rules on financial institutions, restrict the origination of residential mortgage loans and the formation of new issuances of mortgage-backed securities and limit the trading activities of certain banking entities and other systemically significant organizations that are important to our business. Together or individually these new regulatory requirements could materially affect our financial condition or results of operations in an adverse way.
Federal housing finance reform and potential changes to the Federal conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or to laws or regulations affecting the relationship between the GSEs and the U.S. Government may adversely affect our business.
The payments of principal and interest we receive on our Agency RMBS are guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. The guarantees on Agency securities created by Ginnie Mae are explicitly backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government, whereas the guarantees on Agency securities created by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not.
In September 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into the conservatorship of the FHFA, their federal regulator, pursuant to its powers under The Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008, a part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. In addition to FHFA becoming the conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the U.S. Department of the Treasury has provided a liquidity backstop to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to ensure their financial stability. Shortly after the start of the federal conservatorships, the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury suggested that the guarantee payment structure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in the U.S. housing finance market should be re-examined. In 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department and Department of Housing and Urban Development issued housing reform plans that expressed support for a future end to the conservatorships. In November 2020, the FHFA promulgated regulations that established new regulatory capital requirements for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In January 2021, the U.S. Treasury Department amended the terms of its liquidity backstop to enable Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to retain a greater amount of capital in order to achieve these levels, subject to certain conditions. These administrative actions may have significant impact on the source, pricing, volume and nature of Agency RMBS and other mortgage securities that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac issue, which may reduce or otherwise impact their availability in the future.
Further administrative and/or legislative actions may be taken that affect structural GSE and federal housing reform, alter the amount or nature of the credit support provided by the U.S. Treasury to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or modify the future roles of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in housing finance. Any legal or administrative actions affecting these GSEs may create market uncertainty, may have the effect of reducing the actual or perceived credit quality of securities issued or guaranteed by them or may otherwise impact the size and scope of the Agency RMBS markets. Administrative or legislative action that would terminate the conservatorships without simultaneously providing for a sufficiently robust U.S. government guaranty could re-define what constitutes an Agency security and have broad adverse implications for the mortgage markets and our business: such changes could subject Agency RMBS to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac credit risk, make them more difficult to finance, and cause their values to decline.
We may be unable to acquire desirable investments due to competition, a reduction in the supply of new production Agency RMBS having the specific attributes we seek, and other factors.
Our profitability depends on our ability to acquire our target assets at attractive prices. We may seek assets that include specific attributes that affect their propensity for prepayment under certain market conditions or enable us to satisfy asset test requirements to maintain our REIT qualification status or exemption from regulation under the Investment Company Act (such as "whole pool" Agency RMBS). The supply of our target assets may be impacted by policies and procedures adopted by the GSEs, such as pooling practices, or their regulator, the FHFA, or actions by other governmental agencies. Housing finance reform measures may also impact the supply and availability of our target assets. Consequently, a sufficient supply of our target assets may not be available or available at attractive prices. We may also compete for these assets with a variety of other
investors, including other REITs, specialty finance companies, public and private funds, government entities, banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions, who may have competitive advantages over us, such as a lower cost of funds and access to funding sources not available to us. If we are unable to acquire a sufficient supply of our target assets, we may be unable to achieve our investment objectives or to maintain our REIT qualification status or exemption from regulation under the Investment Company Act.
Risks Related to Our Financing and Hedging Activities
Our use of significant leverage increases the risk that we may incur substantial losses.
Our strategy involves the significant use of leverage which will vary depending on our assessment of market conditions and risk adjusted returns. We generally expect to maintain our leverage between six to twelve times the amount of our tangible stockholders' equity, but we may operate at levels outside of this range for extended periods. We incur leverage by borrowing against a substantial portion of the market value of our assets. While leverage is fundamental to our investment strategy, it also creates significant risks because leverage amplifies the effect of changes in underlying asset values. Because of our leverage, we may incur substantial losses if the value of our investments declines or if mortgage spreads widen and our investments underperform our interest rate hedges.
Spread risk is an inherent component of our business as a levered investor.
When the spread between the market yield on our mortgage assets and benchmark interest rates widens, our tangible net book value will typically decline. We refer to this as "spread risk" or "basis risk." As a levered investor primarily in fixed-rate Agency RMBS, spread risk is an inherent component of our investment strategy. Although we use hedging instruments to attempt to protect against moves in interest rates, our hedges will typically not protect us against spread risk. Spreads may widen due to numerous factors, including changes in mortgage and fixed income markets due to actual or expected monetary policy actions by U.S. and foreign central banks, market liquidity or changes in investor return requirements and sentiment. Wider spreads can occur independent of moves in interest rates.
We may be unable to procure adequate financing or to renew or replace existing financing as it matures.
We rely primarily on short-term borrowings to finance our mortgage investments. Consequently, our ability to achieve our investment objectives depends not only on our ability to borrow sufficient amounts and on favorable terms, but also our ability to renew or replace our maturing short-term borrowings on a continuous basis. A variety of factors could prevent us from being able to achieve our intended borrowing and leverage objectives, including:
•disruptions in the repo market that adversely impact the availability and cost of repo funding, including failure of the Fed and other policy makers to stabilize the repo market or a discontinuation of such stabilization measures;
•lenders require additional collateral to cover our borrowings, which we may be unable to deliver;
•lenders exit the market or are unwilling to make repurchase agreements or other financing arrangements available to us at acceptable rates and terms;
•regulatory capital requirements or other limitations imposed on our lenders that may negatively impact their ability or willingness to lend to us;
•our failure to satisfy covenants, leverage limits, or other requirements imposed by our lenders, in which case our lenders may terminate and cease entering into repurchase transactions with us; and
•our wholly-owned captive broker-dealer’s inability to continually meet FINRA and FICC regulatory and membership requirements, which may change over time, resulting in our inability to access triparty repo funding through the FICC's GCF Repo service, which represents a significant portion of our total borrowing capacity.
Because of these and other factors, there is no assurance that we will be able to secure financing on terms that are acceptable to us. If we cannot obtain sufficient funding on acceptable terms, we may have to sell assets possibly under adverse market conditions.
Our borrowing costs may increase at a faster pace than the yield on our investments.
Our borrowing costs are particularly sensitive to changes in short-term interest rates, as well as overall funding availability and market liquidity, whereas the yield on our fixed rate assets is largely influenced by longer-term rates and conditions in the mortgage market. Consequently, our borrowing costs may rise at a faster pace or decline at a slower pace than the yield on our assets, negatively impacting our net interest margin. In extreme scenarios, our net interest margin could even turn negative.
It may be uneconomical to roll our TBA dollar roll transactions and we may be required to take physical delivery of the underlying securities and fund our obligations with cash or other financing sources.
We utilize TBA dollar roll transactions as an alternate means of investing in and financing Agency RMBS, which represent a form of off-balance sheet financing and increase our "at risk" leverage. It may become uneconomical for us to roll forward our TBA positions prior to their settlement dates due to market conditions, which can be impacted by a variety of factors including the Fed’s purchases and sales of Agency RMBS in the TBA market. TBA dollar roll transactions include a deferred purchase price obligation on our part, and an inability or unwillingness to continue to roll forward our position has effects similar to a termination of financing: In that circumstance, we would be required to settle the obligations for cash and would then take physical delivery of underlying Agency RMBS. We may not have sufficient funds or alternative financing sources available to settle such obligations. If we take delivery of the underlying securities, we expect to receive the "cheapest to deliver" securities with the least favorable prepayment attributes that satisfy the terms of the TBA contract. Additionally, the specific securities that we receive may include few, if any, “whole pool” securities, which could inhibit our ability to remain exempt from and regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act (see “Loss of our exemption from regulation pursuant to the Investment Company Act would adversely affect us” below). TBA contracts also subject us to margin requirements as described further below. Our inability to roll forward our TBA positions or failure to obtain adequate financing to settle our obligations or to meet margin calls under our TBA contracts could force us to sell assets under adverse market conditions potentially causing us to incur significant losses.
Our funding and derivative agreements subject us to margin calls that could result in defaults or force us to sell assets under adverse market conditions or through foreclosure.
Our financing and hedging arrangements require that we maintain certain levels of collateral with our counterparties, called margin, to protect them from loss in the event we default on our obligations. Our counterparties in these arrangements require us to post additional margin if the value of the posted collateral declines to re-establish the agreed-upon collateral level. Our fixed-rate collateral is generally more susceptible to margin calls due to its price sensitivity to changes in interest rates. In addition, some collateral may be less liquid than other instruments, which could cause it to be more susceptible to margin calls in a volatile market environment. Additionally, faster rates of prepayment increase the magnitude of potential margin calls as there is a time lag between the effective date of the prepayment and when we receive the principal payment.
Our derivative agreements also subject us to margin calls. Collateral requirements under our derivative agreements are typically dictated by contract or clearinghouse rules and regulations adopted by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) and regulators of other countries. Thus, changes in clearinghouse rules and other regulations can increase our margin requirements and the cost of our hedges. Our counterparties typically have the sole discretion to determine eligible collateral, the value of our collateral and, in the case of our derivative counterparties, the value of our derivative instruments. Additionally, for cleared swaps and futures, the futures commission merchant, or FCM, that we transact through typically has the right to require more collateral than the clearinghouse requires.
The requirement to meet margin calls can create liquidity risks. In the event of a margin call, we must generally provide additional collateral on the same business day. Following an event of default, we could be required to settle our obligations under the agreements. Our derivative agreements may also contain cross default provisions under which a default under our other indebtedness may cause an event of default under the derivative agreement. The threat or occurrence of margin calls or the forced settlement of our obligations under our agreements could force us to sell our investments under adverse market conditions and result in substantial losses.
Our funding and derivative agreement counterparties may not fulfill their obligations to us as and when due.
If a repurchase agreement counterparty defaults on its obligation to resell collateral to us, we could incur a loss on the transaction equal to the difference between the value of our collateral and the amount of our borrowing. Similarly, if a derivative agreement counterparty fails to return collateral to us at the conclusion of the derivative transaction or fails to pledge collateral to us or to make other payments we are entitled to under the terms of our agreement as and when due, we could incur a loss equal to the value of our collateral and other amounts due to us.
We attempt to limit our counterparty exposure by diversifying our funding across multiple counterparties and limiting our counterparties to registered central clearing exchanges and major financial institutions with acceptable credit ratings. However, these measures may not sufficiently reduce our risk of loss. Central clearing exchanges typically attempt to reduce the risk of default by requiring initial and daily variation margin from their clearinghouse members and maintain guarantee funds and other resources that are available in the event of default. Nonetheless, we could be exposed to a risk of loss if an exchange or one or more of its clearing members defaults on its obligations. Most of the swaps that we enter into must be cleared by a Derivatives Clearing Organization, or DCO. DCOs are subject to regulatory oversight, use extensive risk management processes, and might receive "too big to fail" support from the government in the case of insolvency. We access the DCO
through several FCMs, which may establish their own collateral requirements beyond that of the DCO. Consequently, for any cleared swap, we bear the credit risk of both the DCO and the relevant FCM as to obligations under our swap agreements. The enforceability of our derivative and repurchase agreements may also depend on compliance with applicable statutory, commodity and other regulatory requirements and, depending on the domicile of the counterparty, applicable international requirements.
Our rights under repurchase agreements in the event bankruptcy or insolvency may be limited.
In the event of our bankruptcy or insolvency, our repurchase agreements may qualify for special treatment under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, the effect of which, among other things, would be to allow the lender under the applicable repurchase agreement to avoid the automatic stay provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and to foreclose on the collateral without delay. In the event of a lender’s insolvency or bankruptcy, the lender may be permitted, under applicable insolvency laws, to repudiate the contract, and our claim against the lender for damages may be treated simply as an unsecured creditor. In addition, if the lender is a broker or dealer subject to the Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970, or an insured depository institution subject to the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, our ability to recover our assets under a repurchase agreement or to be compensated for any damages resulting from the lender's insolvency may be further limited by those statutes. Recoveries on these claims could be subject to significant delay and, if received, could be substantially less than the damages incurred.
Our hedging strategies may be ineffective.
We attempt to limit, or hedge against, the adverse effect of changes in interest rates on the value of our assets and financing costs, subject to complying with REIT tax requirements. Hedging strategies are complex and do not fully protect against adverse changes under all circumstances. Our business model also calls for accepting certain amounts of risk. Consequently, our hedging activities are generally designed to limit interest rate exposure, but not to eliminate it, and they are generally not designed to hedge against spread risk and other risks inherent to our business model.
Our hedging strategies may vary in scope based on our portfolio composition, liabilities and our assessment of the level and volatility of interest rates, expected prepayments, credit and other market conditions, and are expected to change over time. We could fail to properly assess a risk or fail to recognize a risk entirely, leaving us exposed to losses without the benefit of any offsetting hedges. Furthermore, the techniques and derivative instruments we select may not have the effect of reducing our risk. Poorly designed hedging strategies or improperly executed transactions could increase our risk of loss. Hedging activities could also result in losses if the hedged event does not occur. Numerous other factors can impact the effectiveness of our hedging strategies, including the following:
•the cost of interest rate hedges;
•the degree to which the interest rate hedge benchmark rate correlates to the interest rate risk being hedged;
•the degree to which the duration of the hedge matches that of the related asset or liability, particularly as interest rates change;
•the amount of income that a REIT may earn from hedging transactions that do not satisfy certain requirements of the Internal Revenue Code or that are not done through a TRS; and
•the degree to which the value of our interest rate hedges changes relative to our assets as a result of fluctuations in interest rates, passage of time, or other factors.
Additionally, regulations adopted by the CFTC and regulators of other countries could adversely affect our ability to engage in derivative transactions or impose increased margin requirements and require additional operational and compliance costs. Consequently, our hedging strategies may fail to protect us from loss and could even result in greater losses than if we had not entered in the hedge transaction.
The discontinuation of LIBOR could negatively impact the dividends we pay on our fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock and the value of our variable rate financial instruments.
Our outstanding fixed-to-floating rate cumulative redeemable preferred stock agreements are indexed to three-month USD LIBOR. In addition, we also have certain investments and interest rate derivatives that reference USD LIBOR. In July 2017, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority announced that it intends to phase out the use of LIBOR by the end of 2021. In November 2020, ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA), the administrator of LIBOR, signaled a potential extension of USD LIBOR, announcing a December consultation on its intention to publish one-month and three-month USD LIBOR, along with three other tenors, through June 30, 2023.
The Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), a group convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has recommended the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) as its preferred alternative rate for USD LIBOR. SOFR is a measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight, collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities, and is
based on directly observable U.S. Treasury-backed repurchase transactions. The U.S. Treasury-backed overnight repo market is highly liquid, but there is currently no robust market for determining forward-looking SOFR term rates. Switching existing financial instruments from LIBOR to SOFR requires calculations of a fixed spread to account for differences between the two, which may not favor all parties equally. Additionally, certain of our LIBOR based contracts may not contain fallback language for the permanent discontinuation of LIBOR, which may result in disputes or litigation over the appropriateness of the substitute index and fixed spread to LIBOR.
Risks Related to Our Business Operations
Our executive officers and other key personnel are critical to our success and the loss of any executive officer or key employee may materially adversely affect our business.
We operate in a highly specialized industry and our success is dependent upon the efforts, experience, diligence, skill and network of business contacts of our executive officers and key personnel. The departure of any of our executive officers and/or key personnel could have a material adverse effect on our operations and performance.
We are highly dependent on information systems and third-parties, and system failures or cybersecurity incidents incurred by us or the third-parties that we rely on could significantly disrupt our ability to operate our business.
Our business is highly dependent on communications and information systems. Any failure or interruption of our systems or cyber-attacks or security breaches of our networks or systems could cause delays or other problems in our securities trading and risk management activities. A disruption or breach could also lead to unauthorized access to and release, misuse, loss or destruction of our confidential information or confidential information of our employees or third parties, which could lead to regulatory fines, costs of remediating the breach, reputational harm, financial losses, litigation and increased difficulty doing business with third parties that rely on us to meet their own data protection requirements. In addition, we also face the risk of operational failure, termination or capacity constraints of any of the third parties with which we do business or that facilitate our business activities, including clearing agents or other financial intermediaries we use to facilitate our securities transactions, if their respective systems experience failure, interruption, cyberattacks, or security breaches. We may face increased costs as we continue to evolve our cyber defenses to contend with changing risks. These costs and losses associated with these risks are difficult to predict and quantify but could have a significant adverse effect on our operating results. Additionally, the legal and regulatory environment surrounding information privacy and security in the U.S. and international jurisdictions is constantly evolving.
Computer malware, viruses, computer hacking and phishing attacks have become more prevalent in our industry and we are from time to time subject to such attempted attacks. We rely heavily on financial, accounting and other data processing systems maintained by us and by third parties with whom we contract for information technology, network, data, storage and other related services. Although we have not detected a material cybersecurity breach to date, other financial services institutions have reported material breaches of their systems, some of which have been significant. Even with all reasonable security efforts, not every breach can be prevented or even detected. It is possible that we or the third parties with whom we contract have experienced an undetected breach. There is no assurance that we, or the third parties that facilitate our business activities, have not or will not experience a breach. It is difficult to determine what, if any, negative impact may directly result from any specific interruption or cyber-attacks or security breaches of our networks or systems (or the networks or systems of third parties that facilitate our business activities) or any failure to maintain performance, reliability and security of our technical infrastructure, but such computer malware, viruses, and computer hacking and phishing attacks may negatively affect our operations.
Risks Related to Our Taxation as a REIT
Our failure to qualify as a REIT would have adverse tax consequences.
We believe that we operate in a manner that allows us to qualify as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes under Sections 856 through 860 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and Treasury Regulations promulgated thereunder. We plan to continue to meet the requirements for taxation as a REIT. The determination that we are a REIT requires an analysis of various factual matters and circumstances that may not be totally within our control, and our compliance with the annual REIT income and quarterly asset requirements depends upon our ability to successfully manage the composition of our income and assets on an ongoing basis. For example, to qualify as a REIT, at least 75% of our gross income must come from real estate sources and 95% of our gross income must come from real estate sources and certain other sources that are itemized in the REIT tax laws. Additionally, our ability to satisfy the REIT asset tests depends upon our analysis of the characterization and fair market values of our assets, some of which are not susceptible to a precise determination, and for which we will not obtain independent appraisals. Furthermore, the proper classification of an instrument as debt or equity for federal income tax purposes may be uncertain in some circumstances, which could affect the application of the REIT asset requirements. We are
also required to distribute to stockholders at least 90% of our REIT taxable income (determined without regard to the deduction for dividends paid and by excluding any net capital gain).
If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any tax year, we would be subject to U.S. federal and state corporate income tax on our taxable income at regular corporate rates, and dividends paid to our stockholders would not be deductible by us in computing our taxable income. Also, unless the IRS granted us relief under certain statutory provisions, we would remain disqualified as a REIT for four years following the year we first fail to qualify. If we fail to qualify as a REIT, we would have to pay significant income taxes and would, therefore, have less money available for investments or for distributions to our stockholders. This would likely have a significant adverse effect on the value of our equity. In addition, the tax law would no longer require us to make distributions to our stockholders.
If we should fail to satisfy one or more requirements for REIT qualification, we may still qualify as a REIT if there is reasonable cause for the failure and not due to willful neglect and other applicable requirements are met, including completion of applicable IRS filings. It is not possible to state whether we would be entitled to the benefit of these relief provisions in all circumstances. If these relief provisions are inapplicable, we will not qualify as a REIT. Furthermore, if we satisfy the relief provisions and maintain our qualification as a REIT, we may be still subject to a penalty tax. The amount of the penalty tax will be at least $50,000 per failure, and, in the case of certain asset test failures, will be determined as the amount of net income generated by the assets in question multiplied by the highest U.S. federal corporate tax rate in effect at the time of the failure if that amount exceeds $50,000 per failure, and, in case of income test failures, will be a 100% tax on an amount based on the magnitude of the failure, as adjusted to reflect the profit margin associated with our gross income.
New legislation or administrative or judicial action could make it more difficult or impossible for us to remain qualified as a REIT or it could otherwise adversely affect REITs and their stockholders.
The present U.S. federal income tax treatment of REITs may be modified, possibly with retroactive effect, by legislative, judicial or administrative action at any time, which could affect our ability to maintain our REIT status and/or the federal income tax treatment of an investment in us. The federal income tax rules dealing with REITs constantly are under review by persons involved in the legislative process, the IRS and the U.S. Treasury Department, which results in statutory changes as well as frequent revisions to regulations and interpretations. Revisions in Federal tax laws and interpretations thereof could affect or cause us to change our investments and affect the tax considerations of an investment in us.
REIT distribution requirements could adversely affect our ability to execute our business plan.
We generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments and excluding any net capital gain, for U.S. federal and state corporate income tax not to apply to earnings that we distribute. Distributions of our taxable income must generally occur in the taxable year to which they relate, or in the following taxable year if declared before we timely file our tax return for the year and if paid with or before the first regular dividend payment after such declaration. We may also elect to retain, rather than distribute, our net long-term capital gains and pay tax on such gains if required, in which case, we could elect for our stockholders to include their proportionate share of such undistributed long-term capital gains in income, and to receive a corresponding credit for their share of the tax that we paid. Our stockholders would then increase the adjusted basis of their stock by the difference between (a) the amounts of capital gain dividends that we designated and that they include in their taxable income, minus (b) the tax that we paid on their behalf with respect to that income. We intend to make distributions to our stockholders to comply with the REIT qualification requirements of the Internal Revenue Code, which limits our ability to retain earnings and thereby replenish or increase capital from operations.
To the extent that we satisfy this distribution requirement, but distribute less than 100% of our taxable income, we will be subject to U.S. federal and state corporate income tax on our undistributed taxable income. Furthermore, if we should fail to distribute during each calendar year at least the sum of (a) 85% of our REIT ordinary income for such year, (b) 95% of our REIT capital gain net income for such year, and (c) any undistributed taxable income from prior periods, we would be subject to a non-deductible 4% excise tax on the excess of such required distribution over the sum of (x) the amounts actually distributed, (y) the amounts of income we retained and on which we have paid corporate income tax and (z) any excess distributions from prior periods.
We may generate taxable income greater than our reported income prepared in accordance with GAAP. Differences in the timing of the recognition of taxable income and deductible expenses and the actual receipt or disbursement of cash may also occur. For example, market gains and losses on our hedging instruments, such as interest rate swaps, may be deferred for income tax purposes and amortized into taxable income over the original contract term of the instrument even if we have exited the instrument and settled such gains or losses for cash. We are also not allowed to reduce our taxable income for a net capital loss incurred; instead, the net capital loss may be carried forward for a period of up to five years and applied against future capital gains subject to our ability to generate sufficient capital gains, which cannot be assured. If we do not have funds available in these situations to meet our REIT distribution requirements or to avoid corporate income taxes or the 4% excise tax
altogether, we could be required to borrow funds on unfavorable terms, sell investments at disadvantageous prices or distribute amounts that would otherwise be invested in future acquisitions.
We may choose to pay dividends in our own stock, in which case stockholders may be required to pay income taxes in excess of cash dividends received.
We may in the future distribute taxable dividends that are payable in cash and shares of our common stock at the election of each stockholder. Taxable stockholders receiving such dividends will be required to include the full amount of the dividend as ordinary income to the extent of our current and accumulated earnings and profits for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a result, stockholders may be required to pay income taxes with respect to such dividends that are in excess of the cash dividends received. If a U.S. stockholder sells the stock that it receives as a dividend to pay this tax, the sales proceeds may be less than the amount included in income with respect to the dividend, depending on the market price of our stock at the time of the sale. Furthermore, with respect to certain non-U.S. stockholders, we may be required to withhold U.S. tax with respect to such dividends, including in respect of all or a portion of such dividend that is payable in stock.
Even if we remain qualified as a REIT, we may face other tax liabilities that reduce our cash flow.
Even if we remain qualified for taxation as a REIT, we may nonetheless be subject to certain federal, state and local taxes on our income and assets, including the following items. Any of these or other taxes we may incur would decrease cash available for distribution to our stockholders.
•Regular U.S. federal and state corporate income taxes on any undistributed taxable income, including undistributed net capital gains.
•A non-deductible 4% excise tax if the actual amount distributed to our stockholders in a calendar year is less than a minimum amount specified under Federal tax laws.
•Corporate income taxes on the earnings of subsidiaries, to the extent that such subsidiaries are subchapter C corporations and are not qualified REIT subsidiaries or other disregarded entities for federal income tax purposes.
•A 100% tax on certain transactions between us and our TRSs that do not reflect arm's-length terms.
•If we acquire appreciated assets from a corporation that is not a REIT (i.e., a corporation taxable under subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code) in a transaction in which the adjusted tax basis of the assets in our hands is determined by reference to the adjusted tax basis of the assets in the hands of the subchapter C corporation, we may be subject to tax on such appreciation at the highest corporate income tax rate then applicable if we subsequently recognize a gain on a disposition of any such assets during the five-year period following their acquisition from the subchapter C corporation.
•A 100% tax on net income and gains from "prohibited transactions."
•Penalty taxes and other fines for failure to satisfy one or more requirements for REIT qualification.
Complying with REIT requirements may cause us to forgo otherwise attractive opportunities.
To remain qualified as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes, we must continually satisfy tests concerning, among other things, the sources of our income, the nature and diversification of our assets, the amounts that we distribute to our stockholders and the ownership of our stock. We may be required to make distributions to stockholders at disadvantageous times or when we do not have funds readily available for distribution, and we may be unable to pursue investments that would be otherwise advantageous to us in order to remain qualified as a REIT. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our ability to make and, in certain cases, to maintain ownership of, certain attractive investments.
Complying with REIT requirements may force us to liquidate otherwise attractive investments.
To remain qualified as a REIT, we must ensure that, at the end of each calendar quarter, at least 75% of the value of our assets consists of cash, cash items, government securities and qualified real estate assets. The remainder of our investments in securities (other than government securities and qualified real estate assets) generally cannot include more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of any one issuer or more than 10% of the total value of the outstanding securities of any one issuer. In addition, in general, no more than 5% of the value of our assets (other than government securities and qualified real estate assets) can consist of the securities of any one issuer, and no more than 20% of the value of our total assets can be represented by securities of one or more TRSs. If we fail to comply with these requirements at the end of any calendar quarter, we must correct the failure within 30 days after the end of the calendar quarter or qualify for certain statutory relief provisions to avoid losing our REIT qualification and suffering adverse tax consequences. As a result, we may be required to sell otherwise attractive investments from our investment portfolio. These actions could have the effect of reducing our income and amounts available for distribution to our stockholders.
Liquidation of assets may jeopardize our REIT qualification or create additional tax liability for us.
To remain qualified as a REIT, we must comply with requirements regarding the composition of our assets and our sources of income. If we are compelled to liquidate our investments to repay obligations to our lenders, we may be unable to comply with these requirements, ultimately jeopardizing our qualification as a REIT, or we may be subject to a 100% tax on any resultant gain if we sell assets that are treated as dealer property or inventory.
Complying with REIT requirements may limit our ability to hedge effectively and may cause us to incur tax liabilities.
The REIT provisions of the Internal Revenue Code could substantially limit our ability to hedge our liabilities. Any income from a properly designated hedging transaction to manage risk of interest rate changes with respect to borrowings made or to be made, or ordinary obligations incurred or to be incurred, to acquire or carry real estate assets generally does not constitute "gross income" for purposes of the 75% or 95% gross income tests. To the extent that we enter into other types of hedging transactions, the income from those transactions is likely to be treated as non-qualifying income for purposes of both gross income tests. As such, we may have to limit our use of advantageous hedging techniques or implement those hedges through a TRS. This could increase the cost of our hedging activities as our TRS would be subject to tax on gains or expose us to greater risks associated with changes in interest rates than we would otherwise want to bear. In addition, losses in a TRS will generally not provide any tax benefit, except for being carried forward against future taxable income in the TRS.
Uncertainty exists with respect to the treatment of our TBAs for purposes of the REIT asset and income tests.
There is no direct authority with respect to the qualification of TBAs as real estate assets or U.S. Government securities for purposes of the 75% asset test or the qualification of income or gains from dispositions of TBAs as gains from the sale of real property or other qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test. However, we treat our TBAs as qualifying assets for purposes of the REIT 75% asset test, and we treat income and gains from our TBAs as qualifying income for purposes of the 75% gross income test, based on a legal opinion of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP (“Skadden”) substantially to the effect that (i) for purposes of the REIT asset tests, our ownership of a TBA should be treated as ownership of the underlying Agency RMBS, and (ii) for purposes of the 75% REIT gross income test, any gain recognized by us in connection with the settlement of our TBAs should be treated as gain from the sale or disposition of the underlying Agency RMBS. Opinions of counsel are not binding on the IRS, and no assurance can be given that the IRS will not successfully challenge the conclusions set forth in such opinions. In addition, it must be emphasized that Skadden’s opinion is based on various assumptions relating to our TBAs and is conditioned upon fact-based representations and covenants made by our management regarding our TBAs. No assurance can be given that the IRS would not assert that such assets or income are not qualifying assets or income. If the IRS were to successfully challenge Skadden’s opinion, we could be subject to a penalty tax or we could fail to remain qualified as a REIT if a sufficient portion of our assets consists of TBAs or a sufficient portion of our income consists of income or gains from the disposition of TBAs.
Qualifying as a REIT involves highly technical and complex provisions of the Internal Revenue Code.
Qualification as a REIT involves the application of highly technical and complex Internal Revenue Code provisions on a continuous basis for which only limited judicial and administrative authorities exist. Our application of such provisions may be dependent on interpretations of the provisions by the staff of the Internal Revenue Service, which may change over time. Even a technical or inadvertent violation of the Internal Revenue Code provisions could jeopardize our REIT qualification.
The tax on prohibited transactions could limit our ability to engage in certain transactions.
Net income that we derive from a "prohibited transaction" is subject to a 100% tax. The term "prohibited transaction" generally includes a sale or other disposition of property that is held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business by us or by a borrower that has issued a shared appreciation mortgage or similar debt instrument to us. We could be subject to this tax if we were to dispose of assets or structure transactions in a manner that is treated as a prohibited transaction for federal income tax purposes.
We intend to structure our activities to avoid classification as prohibited transactions. As a result, we may choose not to engage in certain transactions at the REIT level that might otherwise be beneficial to us. In addition, whether property is held "primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business" depends on the particular facts and circumstances. Thus, no assurance can be given that any property that we sell will not be treated as such or that we can comply with certain safe-harbor provisions of the Internal Revenue Code that would prevent such treatment. The 100% tax does not apply to gains from the sale of property that is held through a TRS or other taxable corporation, although such income will be subject to tax at the entity’s regular corporate rates.
Distributions to tax-exempt investors may be classified as unrelated business taxable income.
Although distributions with respect to our common stock generally do not constitute unrelated business taxable income, there are some circumstances where they may. If (i) we generate "excess inclusion income" as a result of all or a portion of our assets being subject to rules relating to "taxable mortgage pools" or as a result of holding residual interests in a REMIC or (ii) we become a "pension held REIT," then a portion of the distributions to tax exempt investors may be subject to U.S. federal income tax as unrelated business taxable income under the Code.
Risks Related to Our Business Structure
Loss of our exemption from regulation pursuant to the Investment Company Act would adversely affect us.
We conduct our business so as not to become regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act in reliance on the exemption provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the Investment Company Act. Section 3(c)(5)(C), as interpreted by the staff of the SEC, requires that: (i) at least 55% of our investment portfolio consists of "mortgages and other liens on and interest in real estate," or "qualifying real estate interests," and (ii) at least 80% of our investment portfolio consists of qualifying real estate interests plus "real estate-related assets."
The specific real estate related assets that we acquire are limited by the provisions of the Investment Company Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. In satisfying the 55% requirement, we treat Agency RMBS issued with respect to an underlying pool of mortgage loans in which we directly or indirectly hold all the certificates issued by the pool ("whole pool" securities) as qualifying real estate interests based on pronouncements of the SEC staff. We treat partial pool securities, CRT and other mortgage related securities as real estate-related assets. Consequently, our ability to satisfy the exemption under the Investment Company Act is dependent upon our ability to acquire and hold on a continuous basis a sufficient amount of whole pool securities. The availability of whole pool securities may be adversely impacted by a variety of factors, including GSE pooling practices, which can change over time, housing finance reform initiatives and competition for whole pool securities with other mortgage REITs.
Additionally, if the SEC determines that any of our securities are not qualifying interests in real estate or real estate-related assets, otherwise believes we do not satisfy the above exceptions or changes its interpretation with respect to these securities or the above exceptions, we could be required to restructure our activities or sell certain of our assets. As such, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to acquire or hold enough whole pool securities to maintain our exemption under the Investment Company Act, and our compliance with these requirements may at times lead us to adopt less efficient methods of financing certain of our investments or to forego acquiring higher yielding securities. Importantly, if we fail to qualify for this exemption, our ability to use leverage would be substantially reduced and we would be unable to conduct our business as we currently conduct it, which could materially and adversely affect our business.
Risks Related to Our Common Stock
The market price and trading volume of our common stock may be volatile.
The market price and trading volume of our common stock may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations. If the market price of our common stock declines significantly, stockholders may be unable to resell shares at a gain. Furthermore, fluctuations in the trading price of our common stock may adversely affect the liquidity of our common stock and our ability to raise additional equity capital. Price fluctuations may result in our stock trading below our reported net tangible book value per share for extended periods of time. Variations in the price of our common stock can be affected by any one of the risk factors described herein. Variations may also occur due to a variety of factors unrelated to our financial performance, such as:
•general market and economic conditions;
•changes in government policy, rules and regulations applicable to mortgage REITs, including tax laws, financial accounting and reporting standards, and exemptions from the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended;
•actual or anticipated variations in our quarterly operating results as well as relative to levels expected by securities analysts;
•issuance of shares of common stock or securities convertible into common stock, which may be issued at a price below tangible net book value per share of common stock;
•changes in market valuations of similar companies;
•adverse market reaction to any increased indebtedness we incur in the future or issuance of preferred stock senior in priority to our common stock;
•actions by stockholders, individually or collectively;
•additions or departures of key management personnel;
•speculation in the press or investment community;
•actual or anticipated changes in our dividend policy; and
•changes to our targeted investments or investment guidelines.
We have not established a minimum dividend payment level and may be unable to pay dividends in the future.
We intend to pay monthly dividends to our common stockholders in an amount that all or substantially all our taxable income is distributed within the limits prescribed by the Internal Revenue Code. However, we have not established a minimum dividend payment level and the amount of our dividend may fluctuate. Our ability to pay dividends may be adversely affected by the risk factors described herein. All distributions will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our earnings and financial condition, the requirements for REIT qualification and such other factors as our Board of Directors deems relevant from time to time. Additionally, our preferred stock has a preference on dividend payments and liquidating distributions that could limit our ability to pay dividends to the holders of our common stock. Therefore, we may not be able to make distributions in the future or our Board of Directors may change our dividend policy.
Our certificate of incorporation generally does not permit ownership of more than 9.8% of our common or capital stock and attempts to acquire amounts above this limit will be ineffective unless an exemption is granted by our Board of Directors.
For the purpose of complying with REIT ownership limitations under the Internal Revenue Code, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation generally prohibits beneficial or constructive ownership by any person of more than 9.8% of our common or capital stock (by value or by number of shares, whichever is more restrictive), unless exempted by our Board of Directors. Such constructive ownership rules are complex and may cause the outstanding stock owned by a group of related individuals or entities to be deemed to be constructively owned by one individual or entity. As a result, the acquisition of 9.8% or less of the outstanding stock by an individual, entity or group could result in constructive ownership greater than 9.8% and thus be subject to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation's ownership limit. Any attempt to own or transfer shares of our common or preferred stock more than the ownership limit without the consent of the Board of Directors will result in the shares being automatically transferred to a charitable trust or, if the transfer to a charitable trust would not be effective, such transfer being treated as invalid from the outset. Such ownership limit could also delay or prevent a transaction or a change in our control that might involve a premium price for our common stock or otherwise be in the best interest of our stockholders.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
We do not own any property. Our executive offices are in Bethesda, Maryland.
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
Neither we, nor any of our consolidated subsidiaries, are currently subject to any material litigation nor, to our knowledge, is any material litigation threatened against us or any consolidated subsidiary, other than routine litigation and administrative proceedings arising in the ordinary course of business. Such proceedings are not expected to have a material adverse effect on the business, financial conditions, or results of our operations.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.