Effective March 23, 2020, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) directed the Open Market Trading Desk (the Desk) at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to purchase agency commercial MBS (CMBS) on behalf of the System Open Market Account (SOMA). The Desk will purchase in the open market agency CMBS secured primarily by multifamily home mortgages that are guaranteed fully as to principal and interest by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Ginnie Mae and that the Desk has determined are suitable for purchase.
- Issued by an eligible issuer
- Fully guaranteed as to principal and interest by eligible issuer
- Re-securitization of real estate mortgage investment conduits (Re-REMICS)
- Interest-only certificates
- Principal-only certificates
- Residual certificates
Eligible issuers for purchases of agency CMBS are the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae).
BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.
JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.
Purchases will be conducted through a competitive process in which primary dealers submit offers on specific securities for sale to the Desk via the Investment Manager. Offers will be evaluated for reasonable pricing and acceptance will be based on the most competitive offers.
It is anticipated that operations will initially be held two to three times per week, subject to market conditions. The schedule for, size, and composition of, purchases will be adjusted as appropriate to support smooth market functioning of agency CMBS markets.
The minimum lot size per CUSIP will be indicated in each operation announcement.