Company: FMCCN
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form Type: 10-K
Source: 0001026214-25-000040
Chunk: 89

Company: FEDERAL HOME LOAN MORTGAGE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-02-13
Form: 10-K
Item: Item 15
Chunk 89
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houses, and clearing members. 

Cleared and exchange-traded derivatives expose us to counterparty credit risk of central clearinghouses and our clearing members. The use of cleared and exchange-traded derivatives mitigates our counterparty credit risk exposure to individual counterparties because a central counterparty is substituted for individual counterparties, and changes in the value of open contracts are settled daily via payments made through the clearinghouse. We are required to post initial and variation margin to the clearinghouses. The amount of initial margin we must post for cleared and exchange-traded derivatives may be based, in part, on S&P or Moody's credit rating of our long-term senior unsecured debt securities. Our obligation to post margin may increase as a result of the lowering or withdrawal of our credit rating by S&P or Moody's.

OTC derivatives expose us to counterparty credit risk of individual counterparties because these transactions are executed and settled directly between us and each counterparty, exposing us to potential losses if a counterparty fails to meet its contractual obligations. When a counterparty in OTC derivatives that is subject to a master netting agreement has a net obligation to us, generally, the counterparty is obligated to deliver collateral in the form of cash, securities, or a combination of both, to satisfy its obligation to us under the master netting agreement. Our OTC derivatives also require us to post collateral to counterparties when we are in a derivative liability position. See Note 9 for additional information on our collateral posting for our OTC derivatives.

We also execute forward purchase and sale commitments of mortgage-related securities, that are treated as derivatives for accounting purposes and utilize the MBSD/FICC as a clearinghouse. As a clearing member of the clearinghouse, we post margin to the MBSD/FICC and are exposed to the counterparty credit risk of the organization. In the event a clearing member fails and causes losses to the MBSD/FICC, we could be subject to the loss of the margin that we have posted to the MBSD/FICC. Moreover, our exposure could exceed the amount of margin we have posted to the MBSD/FICC, as clearing members are generally required to cover losses caused by defaulting members on a pro rata basis. As of December 31, 2024, the gross fair value of such forward purchase and sale commitments that were in derivative asset positions was $24 million.

Over time, our exposure to derivative counterparties varies depending on changes in fair values, which are affected by changes in interest rates and other factors. Due