• 

National Rural Utilities 

Cooperative Finance Corporation 

220 1 Cooperative Woy 

Herndon, Virginia 20171-3025 

703-709-6700 I www.nrucfc.coop 

A Touchstone Energy• Cooperative ~ 

National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation 

Views on Implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act 

The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation ("CFC") appreciates the opportunity to 

submit its views in connection with the CFTC's implementation of provisions of the Dodd-Frank 

Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act ("DFA")-

In particular, we would like to provide information about CFC's cooperative business model, social 

purpose, use of derivatives and capital structure. We hope the CFTC will consider these matters 

when crafting regulations so the imp01tant goals of the DFA may be achieved in a manner that does 

not result in unintended additional costs to CFC, its electric cooperative members or the 42 million 

consumers they serve. 

In this paper, we provide: 

• An introduction to CFC, as a nonprofit lender created and owned by America's consumerowned rural electric cooperatives; 

• An explanation of how and why CFC uses derivatives; 

• An explanation of why we believe CFC should not be subject to margin or clearing 

requirements; and 

• Our views on cettain definitions within DF A that are subject to CFTC rulemaking, including 

" swap," "eligible contract patticipant," "swap dealer," "major swap participant," "substantial 

position," "commercial risk" and "highly leveraged relative to the amount of capital it holds." 

We value the chance to discuss these matters with the CFTC in greater depth and answer any 

questions the Commission may have. 

(1) Introduction to CFC 

The National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation ("CFC") is a nonprofit cooperative 

entity owned by America's consumer-owned electric cooperatives. CFC is not a bank, credit union or 

savings and loan institution. Therefore, many of CFC's metrics and motivations do not conform to 

those of these more commonly known financial entities. 

1 
We understand that the CFTC is currently soliciting public comments on the unique aspects of entities 

that serve a public purpose, such as rural electric cooperatives and other entities covered by Section 

201(f) of the Federal Power Act, which includes entities such as CFC that are wholly owned by rural 

electric cooperatives.' As we discuss below, there are numerous reasons that entities such as CFC are 

unique among the entities that will be subject to the CFTC's DF A rules, and we encourage the CFTC 

to fully consider these reasons. 

• CFC was created by America's electric cooperatives to serve as their non-governmental 

financing arm. CFC was created in 1969 by rural electric cooperatives through the National 

Rural Electric Cooperative Association ("NRECA") to provide financing to supplement the 

loan programs of the U.S. Depaiiment of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service ("RUS"). 

Today, we continue the mission of providing our member electric cooperatives with a variety 

of loan programs. 

• CFC has a public purpose and mandate. CFC was formed to meet the capital needs of 

America's consumer-owned electric cooperatives, which provide electricity as a public 

service, at affordable interest rates. Our provision of affordable loans to these cooperatives 

suppotis this public service. 

• CFC's principal purpose is to provide its members with financing so they can provide 

electric power services to rural Americans. CFC is the largest non-governmental lender to 

rural electric systems. 

o CFC makes loans to members and also provides members with credit enhancements 

in the form of letters of credit and guarantees of debt obligations. At May 31, 2010, 

our total loans and guarantees outstanding were $20.5 billion. 

o In addition to providing the financing that supplements loans from the RUS, nearly 

200 electric cooperatives across the United States rely solely on CFC for financing. 

• As a cooperative, CFC is owned by and exclusively serves its membership. Our 

membership consists solely of not-for-profit entities, or subsidiaries or affiliates of not-forprofit entities. Our nearly 1,000 members serve 42 million consumers in 47 states. 

>- Please see Attachment A (or a map o(our members' service areas. 

• CFC's objective is to offer its members cost-based financial products and services 

consistent with sound financial management, rather than to maximize net income. 

o CFC provides loans to members based on our cost of funds, not with a view to 

maximize net income. As a cooperative, any net earnings remaining after our 

obligations are satisfied belong to our members. As a result, we have been able to 

provide financing to our members at attractive interest rates. A key component of 

keeping costs low has been our ability to use over-the-counter derivatives to hedge 

interest rate risk. 

1 See 75 FR 80183-80184 (Dec. 21, 2010). 

2 
• CFC derives our financial strength from the underlying high credit quality of our 

electric cooperative owners, the security supporting our loans, and our depth of 

understanding and long-term view of the market in which we operate. Consistently, the 

capital markets have viewed electric cooperatives as low-risk businesses that are focused on 

providing essential services to rural consumers and that operate in a conservative, efficient 

manner. The ratings agencies also recognize the financial strength of the electric 

cooperatives. 

• As a cooperative, CFC's structure and financial metrics differ greatly from those of 

other types of companies. 

o CFC's objectives differ from other types of lending entities. CFC's primary goal is 

to provide competitively priced capital to our members while maintaining financial 

strength and soundness. 

• Given CFC's cooperative structure and tax status, CFC cannot issue traditional equity 

securities. Instead, CFC has retained earnings and cet1ain long-term subordinated debt 

securities that our creditors and rating agencies have treated as the functional equivalent of 

core capital. 

o To assess performance, we use financial metrics that adjust certain numbers 

presented in our GAAP-based financial statements. These adjusted metrics are well 

understood and accepted by the major rating agencies as well as the analysts at the 

banks that provide us with revolving credit lines. We fully disclose these "adjusted" 

metrics and reconcile the metrics to GAAP-based metrics in our public filings with 

the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). These non-GAAP 

adjustments fall primarily into two categories: (1) adjustments related to the 

calculation of the TIER ratio and (2) adjustments related to the calculation of the 

leverage and debt-to-equity ratios. These adjustments, which are more fully 

explained later in this paper, reflect management's perspective on our operations and, 

in several cases, are used to measure covenant compliance under our revolving credit 

agreements. We believe that reliance on only GAAP numbers does not accurately 

reflect how our business is evaluated by CFC management, rating agencies and 

creditors. In particular, CFC should not be viewed as overleveraged simply 

because it does not have a capital structure identical to that of a for-profit bank. 

We urge the CFTC to recognize this reality as it progresses in its rulemaking activity. 

How and Why Does CFC Use Derivatives? 

CFC was created to ensure access to non-governmental market capital needed by rural utilities. In 

order to achieve this goal at the most attractive rates and in a manner tailored to the needs of rural 

utilities, CFC uses risk management and interest rate hedging products that would otherwise be 

expensive or unavailable to most of our members. 

CFC's use of derivative hedging products allows our members to manage their interest rate risk 

efficiently and gives them flexibility in choosing different funding methods. Thus, CFC is an end 

user of derivatives, chiefly in the over-the-counter swaps environment. We use derivatives very 

3 
conservatively and not for speculative purposes; we use them to mitigate risks directly related to our 

business. 

• CFC uses derivatives to hedge market interest rate risk. CFC uses over-the-counter swap 

contracts in the context of providing credit to our members, to allow us to tailor loans to our 

members' needs while mitigating the impact of changing interest rates. We do this through 

the use of a variety of types of swaps, from "plain vanilla" interest rate swaps to non-standard 

contracts. 

o For example, CFC may elect to match-fund a specific fixed-rate loan or a group of 

fixed-rate loans with an interest rate swap agreement that matches the exact terms of 

the loan(s) (e.g., principal amount, amortization schedule, payment dates, etc.). By 

match-funding the loan(s) with an interest rate swap, CFC eliminates the interest rate 

risk associated with the loan(s). 

~ Please see Attachment B (or a visual representation o(how our typical 

interest rate swaps work. 

~ Please see Attachment C (or a table showing the number and amount of 

our swaps (or each year since 1998. 

• CFC's use of derivatives reduces cost and increases flexibility for our members. Our 

derivatives allow us to be flexible with loan structuring to accommodate our members' needs 

and help us provide them with low-cost capital. 

o For instance, CFC can use interest rate swap agreements to more cost effectively 

match-fund the cash flows of a specific loan or a pool of loans compared to options 

avai lable in the public and private debt markets. 

o CFC offers our members loan products such as forward fixed-rate loans, accreting 

loans, principal deferral loans and loans with optionality that can most effectively and 

most economically be match-funded through the use of an interest rate swap 

agreement. 

o CFC uses interest rate swap agreements to change the interest rate mode of an 

underlying debt obligation to another interest rate mode that is either not available in 

the cash market or is more attractive or optimal than is available in the cash market. 

~ As a lending institution, CFC needs to access both the public and private 

capital markets to raise capital to fund its loan portfolio. CFC issues longterm debt to refinance maturing debt or to support new loan growth. Based 

on the fixed/floating rate composition ofCFC's loan p01ifolio, CFC will 

raise either fixed-rate or floating-rate debt. 

~ CFC may elect to enter into an interest rate exchange agreement associated 

with a debt offering if an opportunity exists that will allow CFC to more 

economically issue debt in one interest rate mode and conve1t it to a different 

mode. 

• For instance, if CFC determines that it needs floating-rate debt, CFC 

will issue a fixed-rate bond and swap it back to a floating rate if this 

4 
provides a cheaper source of funding than issuing a "plain vanilla" 

floating-rate note. 

• Other factors that will dictate the execution of interest rate exchange 

agreements include situations where certain desired funding 

structures are not able to be executed in the cash bond market in an 

optimal or economic fashion, such as am01tizing loans, forward fixed 

starting loans and accreting loans. 

~ Our owners - rural electric cooperatives - and the consumers they serve 

benefit as a result of the lower cost and added flexibility that result from our 

use of derivatives. 

• CFC also has used cross-currency swaps to eliminate its exposure to exchange rate 

fluctuations when foreign currency denominated debt is issued. CFC has, at times, issued 

debt den om ina ted in a foreign currency in order to take advantage of pricing opportunities. 

In those situations, we will enter into a cross-currency exchange agreement at the time of the 

debt offering that converts the foreign currency obligation to a U.S. dollar obligation 

including both principal and interest payments. 

• CFC does not enter into derivative transactions for speculative purposes. We do not 

make a market in swaps. We do not enter into swaps that are not directly related to our own 

business and do not trade in swaps for the purpose of profit-making. We enter into only the 

minimum number of derivatives necessary to hedge the risks described above. We are 

primarily a hold-to-maturity issuer of derivatives. 

• We prudently manage the risk posed by our counterparties. We use rigorous criteria to 

choose our counterpa1ties, which comprise a select group of well-known financial institutions 

that have investment-grade credit ratings. We understand that managing counterpmty risk is 

paramount in the over-the-counter swaps environment and have devoted significant resources 

to assessing and controlling such risk. 

o Each counterparty must be a pa1ticipant in one of our revolving credit agreements. 

The derivative instruments executed for each counterpa1ty are based on key 

characteristics such as notional concentration, credit risk exposure, tenor, bid success 

rate, total credit commitment and credit ratings. 

o Currently, our derivative counterpa1ties have credit ratings ranging from AAA to 

BBB as assigned by Standard & Poor's Corporation and Aaa to Baal as assigned by 

Moody's Investors Service. 

~ Please see Attachment D (or a breakdown o( our swap portfolio by rating 

as o(May 31, 2010. 

o We have experienced only one instance of counterpa1ty default over our entire 27-

year history of using derivatives. 

• We prudently manage the amount of our exposure to any one counterparty. 

o At May 31 , 2010, the highest percentage concentration of total notional exposure to 

any one counterpmty was 12 percent oftotal derivative instruments. The largest 

5 
amount owed to us by a single counterpa1ty was $11 million, or 26 percent of the 

total exposure to us at May 3 1, 20 1 0. 

o Based on the fair market value of our derivative instruments at May 31, 2010, there 

were seven counterpa1ties that would be required to make a payment to us, totaling 

$43 million, if all of our derivative instruments were terminated on that day. 

• We- and our members- depend on the flexibility and cost effectiveness of the over-thecounter swaps environment. Because our swaps are generally not subject to clearing or 

margin requirements, we have the flexibility to tailor each contract to meet our particular 

needs and are able to keep costs low, rather than having to choose from a limited universe of 

standard contracts or take on the expense of posting collateral. As a result, our members 

benefit from having a variety of credit products and terms to choose from and also pay lower 

rates and fees on their loans as a result. 

(2) CFC Should Be Exempt from DFA's Margin and Clearing Requirements 

CFC understands that the goals ofDFA's swaps provisions include minimizing systemic risk, 

increasing transparency and promoting market integrity. We recognize the need for disclosure and 

rep01ting of both our existing derivatives and any new contracts entered into, and agree with the need 

for safety and transparency in these markets. 

We also note, though, that DF A is not meant to impede the ability of end users to use swaps to hedge 

their own commercial risk, such as CFC does. We also observe that CFC's derivatives activities do 

not entail systemic risk and that the concerns underlying the derivatives provisions ofDFA are 

already being addressed in how we manage our swaps activity. Thus, imposing margin and clearing 

requirements on end users such as CFC is not needed for risk management purposes and would result 

in increased costs to consumers. 

• CFC's use of derivatives is similar to that of entities that do qualify for an exemption 

from clearing under DFA. In fact, we are owned solely by such entities. CFC uses 

derivatives "to hedge or mitigate commercial risk"- and only our own commercial risk, in 

contrast to speculative users of derivatives who make "bets" based on occurrences of events 

having no relation to the user's own business. We are owned by entities that also use 

derivatives to hedge or mitigate their own commercial risk and do qualify for DFA's end user 

clearing exemption. We believe not extending such an exemption to entities such as CFC 

would be an illogical result because we exist solely to provide financing to those end users. 

In addition, the ways we use derivatives parallel the activities of captive finance companies 

explicitly exempted in DFA. 

• Transferring risk to a clearing organization is not needed due to the effective risk 

management already inherent in our use of derivatives. Margin requirements are not 

needed to address the risk posed by CFC's derivatives activities. 

o CFC works with a select universe of highly creditworthy counterpa1ties, and we 

carefully choose our contract terms to fit the risks we need to hedge. 

6 
o We have experienced only one instance of counterparty default over our 27-year 

history of using derivatives. 

o CFC only transacts with counterparties with which it has fully executed an ISDA 

Master Agreement and Schedule to Master Agreement. 

o All ofCFC's ISDA agreements contain a netting provision for payments and for 

settlement in the event of counterpmiy or CFC default. As previously discussed, 

CFC actively manages its derivative p01tfolio to minimize to the extent possible its 

net counterparty exposure. CFC does this primarily via trade allocation and 

individual counterparty notional concentration limits. 

• CFC has the financial strength to meet its ongoing financial obligations associated with 

non-cleared swaps. 

o As of January 7, 2011, our senior unsecured credit ratings from Moody's Investors 

Service and Standard & Poor's Corporation were A2 and A, respectively. 

o CFC maintains several sources of liquidity. 

~ As of August 31 , 2010, CFC had a total of$3.34 billion in credit available 

under three separate revolving credit facilities with 23 banks. The credit 

facilities are used to provide back-up liquidity for CFC's sh01t-term funding 

programs. There were no outstanding balances under the three credit 

facilities as of August 31 , 2010. 

~ CFC had access to liquidity from private debt issuances through note 

purchase agreements with the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation. 

All of the note purchase agreements with the Federal Agricultural Mortgage 

Corporation are revolving credit facilities that allow us to borrow, repay and 

re-borrow funds at any time prior to the maturity date of the applicable 

agreement, provided that the principal amount at any time outstanding under 

each agreement is not more than the total available under such agreement, 

which was $913 million as of August 31 , 2010 . 

~ In November 20 I 0, CFC fmalized the documentation on an additional $500 

million committed loan facility with the Federal Financing Bank that is 

guaranteed by the Department of Agriculture's Rural Utilities Service. CFC 

can draw down this committed amount at any time during the period three 

years from the commitment date. 

• Imposing margin requirements will increase the cost of capital to electric cooperatives 

that serve rural America. Our ability to use over-the-counter swaps without margin or 

clearing requirements allows us to keep the costs of our lending operations low. We pass on 

the cost savings to our members, who pay lower rates and fees on their loans as a result. If 

we were required to post collateral for our swaps, our costs would rise, and the costs we 

charge to our members also would have to rise. 

o It is difficult to predict the precise cost increase that would result for imposing 

margin requirements on CFC. This cost would vary based on a number of factors, 

including (1) whether collateral is required on a notional amount or on the net out-ofthe-money position, (2) whether collateral is required for all swaps or only for swaps 

entered into after final regulations to implement DF A and (3) the cost associated with 

7 
pledging collateral, which will vary based on market costs. We have estimated the 

increases in interest rates to our member electric cooperatives to range from a low of 

4 basis points to 1,212 basis points. 

~ Please see Attachment E (or our estimate of additional costs based on a 

range o(assumptions. 

• Imposing margin requirements, in particular, on end users such as CFC would run 

counter to explicit Congressional intent. In a communication to Representatives Frank and 

Peterson, Senators Lincoln and Dodd stated that it was not their intent that DF A impose 

margin requirements on end users. We agree that DFA should not be read so as to inhibit the 

ability of end users to use swaps to address risks related to their own businessesproductive uses of swaps rather than speculative ones. 

With regard to any margin requirements that are ultimately imposed, we suggest the following 

approaches. 

• Margin should not be required for existing swaps. Imposing margin on existing swap 

contracts would add a significant new cost that was not accounted for when the loans that are 

being match-funded with interest rate swap agreements were priced. To change existing 

contracts would impose an unfair and unanticipated cost burden on end users such as CFC. 

• Swaps entered into after enactment of DFA and prior to issuance of final regulations 

should be allowed a transition period. Ideally, such swaps would be treated the same as 

swaps entered into prior to enactment of DF A and allowed to be grand fathered out of both 

margin and clearing requirements. Otherwise, the same issue of changing the terms of 

existing contracts would again arise. However, at the very least, we believe a transition 

period that allows pat1ies a reasonable time to phase in the increased costs of compliance 

would be a fair approach. 

o We believe that six years would be a reasonable transition period to phase in the 

increased costs of compliance for swaps entered into after enactment of DF A and 

prior to issuance of final regulations. A phase-in period of six years would reduce 

the negative impact of unaccounted-for transaction costs. 

~ Our swap portfolio has a weighted average life of 6.2 years as of August 31, 

2010. Ofthe 50 percent pay-fixed swaps within our existing portfolio, 

30 percent have a remaining life of greater than six years with the longest 

tenor stretching out to June 30, 2042. 

• Flexibility should be allowed in the nature of collateral that may be required or 

permitted. For example, non-cash collateral should be acceptable, including lines of credit 

and other facilities. 

8 
o For new swaps entered into after the effective date of final regulations, margin 

requirements should be based on the issuer's net out-of-the-money position per 

swap counterparty. This is a logical measurement to use, as it represents the 

resulting cost if the swap had to be unwound. If notional amounts are used to 

determine margin requirements, the cost of compliance could be dramatically higher. 

(3) Definitions and Concepts Subject to CFTC Rulemaking 

We appreciate the opportunity to explain how we believe CFC should be viewed regarding a number 

of key terms within DF A that are subject to CFTC rulemaking. Here, we focus on the following 

terms: 

• "Swap" 

• "Eligible contract patiicipant" 

• "Swap dealer" and "Major swap patiicipant" definitions 

o "Swap dealer" 

o "Major swap participant" 

o "Substantial position" 

o "Commercial risk" 

o "Highly leveraged relative to the amount of capital it holds" 

"Swap": A Forward Rate Lock Should not be Considered a "Swap" Subject to Clearing 

and Margin 

We understand that the DFA allows some :flexibility in excluding cetiain contracts from the very 

detailed definition of "swap" in the DFA. We believe that the forward rate locks we offer our 

members should not be included in that definition. These are contracts with our borrowers that 

protect the borrower from interest rate fluctuations; they are not derivatives contracts. 

• A forward rate lock is a simple letter agreement between CFC and the borrower used to 

protect a borrower against rising or volatile interest rates. Any cost charged is either in 

the form of an interest-rate adder or an up-front fee . 

• A forward rate lock is not structured like a swap. In a forward rate lock agreement with a 

member, the member may pay for the privilege of being protected from interest rate 

fluctuations. CFC's obligation is to honor the locked-in rate for the underlying loan. There is 

no notional amount or index used as the basis for a mutual exchange of cash flows as there is 

with an interest rate swap agreement. If the member revokes the commitment, the member 

will be charged an administrative fee plus an obligation to make CFC whole. 

"Eligible Contract Participant": CFC Should Continue to Be Considered Eligible to Enter Into 

Swaps Not Traded on an Exchange 

9 
Section 723 ofDFA states, "It shall be unlawful for any person, other than an eligible contract 

pa11icipant, to enter into a swap unless the swap is entered into on, or subject to the rules of, a board 

of trade designated as a contract market under section 5" of the Commodity Exchange Act ("CEA"). 

CFC should be deemed to be an "eligible contract participant" able to use non-exchange-traded 

swaps. At the very least, the CFTC should refrain from defining "eligible contract participant" in any 

way that would disqualify CFC from using swaps that are not traded on an exchange. 

• CFC already qualifies as an "eligible contract participant" under existing law. Under 

the CEA, the statutory definition of "eligible contract participant" includes "a corporation, 

partnership, proprietorship, organization, trust, or other entity ... that has total assets exceeding 

$1 0,000,000" that is "acting for its own account" (7 USC § la(12)(A)(v)(I). CFC currently 

has more than $20 billion in assets. Moreover, the CEA allows the CFTC to include in the 

definition "any other person that the Commission determines to be eligible in light ofthe 

financial or other qualifications of the person" (7 USC§ la(12)(C)). 

• CFC's prudent use of swaps as an end user merits continued access to the over-thecounter market. As discussed throughout this paper, CFC's use of swaps does not raise the 

types of concerns that would merit disqualifying us fi·om using over-the-counter swaps. CFC 

uses swaps only to hedge commercial risk. We work with a select universe of highly 

creditworthy counterpm1ies and carefully choose our contract terms to suit the risk we need to 

hedge. 

"Swap Dealer" and "Major Swap Participant" Definitions 

We believe CFC does not logically fit into the concept of a "swap dealer" and is not an entity that 

Congress intended to subject to the restrictions, requirements and related costs that would be imposed 

on such entities. In particular, we caution that the term "highly leveraged relative to the amount of 

capital it holds" should not be defined or interpreted based solely on U.S. GAAP measurements or 

standard tests of bank capital. Such tests could inadvertently sweep CFC into the definition of "major 

swap pm1icipant," as CFC does not have the capital structure of a for-profit bank. For example, due to 

our cooperative structure and tax status, we cannot issue common equity as a publicly traded banking 

organization would. 

• "Swap Dealer." DF A generally defines "swap dealer" as "any person who- (i) Holds itself 

out as a dealer in swaps; (ii) Makes a market in swaps; (iii) Regularly enters into swaps with 

counterparties as an ordinary course of business for its own account; or (iv) Engages in any 

activity causing the person to be commonly known in the trade as a dealer or market maker in 

swaps[.] " 

o CFC does not make a market in swaps, nor do we engage in proprietary trading 

activities. CFC uses swaps solely to hedge interest rate risk associated with the loans 

we make to our members. 

o We enter into swaps not as investments for our own account, but to hedge risks 

arising from the loans we make to our members. We caution that the concept of 

10 
" regularly enter[ing] into swaps with counterparties as an ordinary course of business 

for its own account" should not be defined in such a way that would capture entities 

that merely enter into a large volume of swaps, or that regularly enter into swaps, 

while their purpose for doing so is non-speculative and is done to hedge or mitigate 

their own commercial risk. 

~ Rather, the CFTC should explicitly carve out such productive uses of swaps 

with language such as the following: 

• Regularly enters into swaps with counterparties as an ordinary 

course of business for its own account, excluding swaps entered into 

to hedge or mitigate commercial risk. 

• "Major Swap Participant." DF A generally defines a "major swap participant" to mean 

"any person who is not a swap dealer, and- (i) Maintains a substantial position in swaps for 

any of the major swap categories as determined by the [CFTC], excluding- (I) Positions 

held for hedging or mitigating commercial risk; and (II) Positions maintained by any 

employee benefit plan [ ... ]; (ii) Whose outstanding swaps create substantial counterparty 

exposure that could have serious adverse effects on the financial stability of the United States 

banking system or financial markets; or (iii)(l) Is a financial entity that is highly leveraged 

relative to the amount of capital it holds and that is not subject to capital requirements 

established by an appropriate Federal banking agency; and (ll) Maintains a substantial 

position in outstanding swaps in any major swap category as determined by the [CFTC]." 

o CFC's use of swaps does not raise the concerns underlying the "major swap 

participant" concept. DF A's concept of "major swap pm1icipant"- and the 

regulatory regime to which such entities will be subject- is driven by concerns that 

such entities' swap activities put the larger economy at risk, and thus require 

increased supervisory oversight. 

• "Substantial position." 

o CFC's swaps positions should not be considered a "substantial position" for 

purposes of the major swap participant definition. The CFTC is directed to 

define "substantial position" at the threshold that it deems to be prudent for the 

effective monitoring, management and oversight of entities that are systemically 

important or can significantly affect the financial system of the United States. In 

crafting the definition, the CFTC is to consider the entity's relative position in 

uncleared versus cleared swaps and may take into consideration the value and quality 

of collateral held against counterparty exposures. We believe the CFTC should 

consider the fact that 100 percent of our swaps are held to hedge or mitigate 

commercial risk- chiefly, interest rate risk- and that our counterparty risk is 

extremely well managed. 

o Positions for hedging or mitigating commercial risk should be excluded for 

calculating a "substantial position" for "major swap participant" purposes. 

Under the first prong of the "major swap participant" definition, swap transactions 

11 
that hedge "commercial risk" are excluded. We believe that provision also should be 

incorporated into the third prong, as it is just as relevant for "financial entities" as for 

other types of entities. The mere fact that an entity is primarily engaged in lendingand thus falls under the "financial entity" definition- should not mean that entity 

should be penalized for holding positions in swaps that serve solely to mitigate the 

entity's own commercial risk and do not serve any speculative purpose. 

• "Commercial risk." "Commercial risk" is not defined in DF A, and the CFTC is not 

required to define the term through rulemaking. However, defining the term is important, as 

the term is used in two key areas ofDF A. First, the term is used in determining whether an 

entity holds a "substantial position" in swaps for purposes of the "major swap participant" 

definition. Second, the term is used in the end user clearing exemption providing that a noncleared swap must be used to "hedge or mitigate commercial risk." Additionally, as we have 

proposed above, the term should be used in the context of the definition of "swaps dealer." 

o "Commercial risk" should be defined to include any legitimate risk incurred in 

connection with operating a business and should explicitly include interest rate 

risk and currency risk. Managing these two types of risks is integral to conducting 

CFC's business and is not associated with proprietary or speculative trading. We 

encourage the CFTC to view the concept of hedging or mitigating commercial risk as 

one in which there is a direct link between the derivative contract and managing the 

risks associated with an entity's own business, as opposed to speculative swaps based 

on risks of parties unrelated to the end user. Thus, we propose language such as the 

following: 

> "Commercial risk" means any risk incurred by a person or entity in 

connection with its own business, including (1) interest •·ate risk; (2) 

currency risk; ... " 

• "Highly leveraged relative to the amount of capital it holds." We fully recognize that the 

failures of ce1iain financial firms in recent history have resulted, at least in part, from 

problems with overleverage. However, we caution against applying a bank-like or GAAPbased capital adequacy regime to a nonprofit cooperative lender such as CFC, which has a 

structure that is very different from other types of financial companies and is able to manage 

its risk without the need for the types of capital requirements applicable to certain other types 

of companies, such as depository institutions. While CFC is not subject to the capital 

requirements to which banks are subject, many of our capital instruments are the functional 

equivalent of bank regulatory capital and should be considered as such. 

o Given CFC's cooperative structure and tax status, CFC cannot issue traditional 

equity securities. Instead, CFC has retained earnings and ce1iain long-term 

subordinated debt securities that creditors and rating agencies have treated as the 

functional equivalent of core capital. Insisting on a strict GAAP measure of capital 

12 
would put CFC at an unfair disadvantage relative to for-profit entities that can freely 

issue common equity. 

o CFC's adjusted equity is composed of (1) members' equity and (2) certain longterm, subordinated debt obligations. 

~ Members' Equity. This amount consists of (1) fees paid by members; (2) an 

education fund, to which CFC contributes less than 1 percent of net earnings 

each year and which is used to support cooperative education programs; (3) a 

members' capital reserve, which constitutes retained earnings that have not 

been allocated to any member but could be so allocated in the future; (4) 

unallocated net loss; and (5) allocated net income. 

~ Long-Term Subordinated Debt. CFC issues several forms of long-term 

subordinated debt that it includes in its adjusted equity: 

• Subordinated Deferrable Debt- These instruments are sold on the 

New York Stock Exchange and have a par value of $25.00 and a 

maturity of 40 years. CFC may defer interest for up to 20 quarters. 

• Membership Subordinated Certificates- Members ofCFC may be 

required to purchase these certificates as a condition of membership. 

They are unsecured and pay interest at 5 percent semi-annually that 

is deferrable if CFC cannot make payments on other senior debt. All 

other debt is senior to these cetiificates, and members cannot call 

them before maturity. The certificates are non-transferable and have 

an original maturity of 100 years. The weighted average maturity for 

all membership subordinated certificates outstanding at May 31, 

2010, was 66 years. 

• Loan and Guarantee Subordinated Certificates- Members 

obtaining long-term loans, certain short-term loans or guarantees 

were generally required to purchase additional loan or guarantee 

subordinated cetiificates with each such loan or guarantee based on 

the members' debt-to-equity ratio with CFC. CFC loans are 

typically 35-year loans, and the certificates tied to a loan carry the 

same maturity as the loan. In the event of a loan default, CFC has a 

right of offset on these cetiificates. Effective June 1, 2009, CFC 

changed its equity policies. Under current policy, most members 

requesting standard loans are not required to buy subordinated 

certificates as a condition of a loan or guarantee. Members meeting 

certain criteria or members requesting large facilities may be 

required to purchase member capital securities (described below) or 

other subordinated certificates as a condition of the loan. 

• Member Capital Securities- CFC began offering member capital 

securities to its voting members during the 2009 fiscal year. 

Member capital securities are subordinate to CFC's existing and 

13 
future senior indebtedness and all existing and future subordinated 

indebtedness of CFC that may be held by or transferred to nonmembers ofCFC, but rank equally to the membership subordinated 

cetiificates. Members can voluntarily purchase these securities. 

They have a 35-year maturity and are callable at par at CFC's option 

five years from the date of issuance and anytime thereafter. 

o The membership subordinated certificates, loan and guarantee certificates, 

and member capital securities that CFC issues are the functional equivalent 

of core capital, and are treated as such by our creditors and rating agencies. 

Like common equity and noncumulative perpetual preferred stock, these debt 

instruments are available to absorb losses. These debt instruments do not have 

redemption features that would permit a holder to withdraw funds before 

maturity and have long-dated maturities. Further, all ofthe membership 

subordinated instruments give CFC the right to offset the member's investment 

in the instrument against any amounts the member may owe CFC. This offset 

right has been utilized by CFC to mitigate loan losses. Because of these features, 

rating agencies and existing creditors have equated these instruments to core 

capital. 

~ CFC's loan and guarantee subordinated certificates also may be viewed 

as the functional equivalent of nonwithdrawable accounts or pledged 

deposits. Current Office of Thrift Supervision ("OTS") capital 

regulations (12 CFR § 567.5(a)(iv)) recognize nonwithdrawable accounts 

and pledged deposits of mutual savings associations as components of 

core capital. The loan and guarantee subordinated certificates are 

established in connection with a loan and must remain outstanding 

during the term of the loan. 

o Given our unique capital structure, we have developed certain ratios that 

management, creditors and rating agencies use to analyze our financial 

condition. For example, CFC's revolving credit agreements require CFC to 

maintain an "adjusted leverage ratio" of no m01·e than 1 0-to-1. This and other 

ratios used by CFC are described below. 

~ Adjusted TIER. This ratio measures CFC's ability to cover the interest 

expense on our debt obligations. The TIER ratio equals the sum of our 

interest expense plus net income, divided by interest expense. CFC's 

revolving credit agreements require that we achieve an adjusted TIER 

over the six most recent quatiers of 1.025 and prohibit us from retiring 

patronage capital unless we have achieved an adjusted TIER of 1.05 in 

the preceding fiscal year. The adjusted TIER ratio adds derivative cash 

settlements to interest expense, adds noncontrolling interest net income 

to total net income, and removes derivative forward value and foreign 

14 
currency adjustments from total net income. Our adjusted TIER was 

1.12 for the year ended May 31, 2010. 

~ Adjusted Leverage Ratio. This ratio measures the sum oftotalliabilities 

and total guarantees divided by total equity. We make adjustments based 

upon the terms of our revolving credit agreements. Adjustments include 

(1) the subtraction from debt used to fund total liabilities ofloans 

guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's RUS; (2) the 

subtraction from debt and addition to equity of instruments that have 

equity-like characteristics (membership subordinated subscription 

certificates, loan and guarantee subordinated ce1iificates, and 

subordinated deferrable debt); and (3) the exclusion from total liabilities 

and total equity of the effect of non-cash foreign currency adjustments 

and non-cash adjustments under ASC Topic 815, Derivatives and 

Hedging. Our adjusted leverage ratio was 6.34-to-1 as of 

May 31, 2010. 

~ Adjusted Debt-to-Equity Ratio. This ratio measures total liabilities 

divided by total equity. The only difference between this ratio and the 

adjusted leverage ratio is the inclusion of guarantees in the leverage ratio 

basis. At May 31,2010, our adjusted debt-to-equity ratio was 5.93-to-1 

as compared with a debt-to-equity ratio of33.33-to-1 based on GAAP. 

o "Adjusted" equity should be used to evaluate our capital adequacy, not our 

GAAP numbers. We make ce1iain adjustments to financial measures in assessing 

our financial performance that are not in accordance with GAAP. These non-GAAP 

adjustments fall primarily into two categories: (1) adjustments related to the 

calculation of the TIER ratio and (2) adjustments related to the calculation of the 

leverage and debt-to-equity ratios. These adjustments reflect management's 

perspective on our operations and are used to measure covenant compliance under 

our revolving credit agreements. 

o In short, CFC's capital structure should not be viewed as overleveraged simply 

because it does not mirror the capital structure of for-profit banks. For-profit 

banks are inherently subject to different risks and are organized to achieve different 

financial goals than the risks and goals applicable to CFC. We urge the CFTC to 

recognize this reality as it progresses in its rulemaking activity. 

We appreciate the opportunity to provide this information about CFC. For any questions or 

additional information, please contact Rich Larochelle, Senior Vice President, at 703-709-6794 or 

Rich.Larochelle@nrucfc.coop. 

15 
'[' 

·- p':fr_; . 

-·....._ '\ ~:z,_ ·--·-- .. .......... ~........,.,..~ >- :'" -. -~ 

Alaska 

,.... .. _,.~ 

J' o · 

America's Electric Cooperative Network 

= ~ 

tbw-~11 Ametk:o1nS.,.,o., 

CAA I., ~OI\WtlM>I 

=:-~.%~tt~ 

..... _ .. ._...._0. ____ ._.._..... ., 

_, __ __ _,__ ........ _o--...... ,,_ __ .,_ ,_ 

:r-=:.::.===-.=.= 

c..,.._......., +IN· ~W­

.,,.,.~CA~ II.-I)ol: 

"XXI WW!IPol 

~_s:o:mcn-*0 

=~~--==t.. =::.:::=.. "'"=:...,. 

. .P 

Attachment A 

l. ~~tlll 

,._ U l• lf•>Utloo oo-:_, .,. .. ., 11> 

@ t:fi' ..... IIOO IO•fl< ,..hOOII<•Ifut'i~o iCOUIU 

-,. ----... .--

---~ 

... ....--

..... __ ... . - (];;} t '; ,\ 1 otrnnlooiO .;;~· .. , ..,Ill * , ,_ttC•I oit.<l• 

m,,,.,..,._.,,.,.,..,.,.n. ....... ., Sunr RI,...,III,...) 

- .t ll lllrnul•""-"'"'t.l') 

.. 

Notional Rurnl Electric Cooperative Association "'~r .... .,,.. ~_...,.~ , 
How CFC uses Interest Rate Swaps 

In this example, CFC 

receives fixed interest 

from an aggregate loan 

portfolio but pays 

floating LIBOR to capital 

market investors. This 

mismatch in interest 

rate creates exposure, 

prompting CFC to swap 

the fixed rate from its 

loan portfolio to 

floating. 

In this example, CFC 

issues fixed rate notes 

and uses the proceeds 

to pay down 

Commercial Paper. 

CFC then swaps the 

fixed notes to floating 

so as to maintain its 

floating exposure and 

achieve a lower cost of 

funds. 

Pay-Fixed Swap 

~ ~ ~r -;;~~\7r-~: ·: .... ' .. ' j ·1 

~ . -.: ~ .- . !c' :· ·: ~ ~ ·- -- L HA • .,I I \. ""'\ : LIBOR ~ 4 

Fixed I t Rate 

Rate t : LIB OR 

Pay-Floating Swap 

18 1 

Fixed Rate (i.e.l 

Bond Coupon) 

Investors 

Counterparty 

LIBOR+XBps 

--------· 

• 

Fixed Rate (i.e. 

Bond Coupon) 

Counterparty 

Attachment B 
Attachment C 

CFC's use of Derivatives, 1998 - 2010 

Year Deal Count Notional 

1998 42 1,334,710,896 

1999 11 97 4,350,000 

2000 32 3,998,853,500 

2001 40 7,617,378,573 

2002 21 6,514,500,000 

2003 45 4,433,402,643 

2004 14 1 ,058,531 ,800 

2005 35 3,247,134,500 

2006 20 1 ,451 ,878,525 

2007 31 2,945,218,401 

2008 25 2,203,708,000 

2009 17 1 ,558,201 '1 00 

2010 14 1 ,091 ,684,925 
Attachment D 

CFC's Swap Portfolio by Rating as of May, 2010 

S&P RATINGS MOODY'S RATINGS 

Number %of Number %of 

Range of Banks Notional Portfolio Range of Banks Notional Portfolio 

AAA to AA- 5 2,435,992,325 22% Aaa to Aa3 13 7,885,335,946 70% 

A+ to A 12 8,069,939,046 72% A1 to A2 5 2,800,005,425 25% 

BBB to BBB+ 2 508,346,000 5% Baa1 2 508,346,000 5% 

NR 1 179,410,000 2% 

20 11 '193,687 ,371 100% 20 11 '193,687 ,371 100% 
Attachment E 

Projected Additional Costs of Margin 

Requirements to CFC and Electric Co-ops 

Notional Collateral 

Regulatory Net MTM Collateral (at 15% of Swaps) 

Requirement 2.5% 6.0% 2.5% 6.0% 

Cost Cost Cost Cost 

Drag Drag Drag Drag 

A. If Pledging Required for 

all Swaps, including 

those existing prior to 

OF A. 26 bps 63 bps 505 bps 1,212 bps 

B. If Pledging Required 

only on swaps issued 

after DFA regulations. 4 bps 11 bps 23 bps 55 bps 

* Assumes $1 Billion in new loans to spread these additional costs.