FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 17, 2020

MEDIA CONTACT: Fred Solomon

703-903-3861

Frederick_Solomon@freddiemac.com

INVESTOR CONTACT: Ameez Nanjee

571-382-4090

Freddie Mac Clears Path for New Index Rate

Company Begins Purchasing SOFR-indexed Products and Launches SOFR-indexed Offerings

McLean, Va. – Freddie Mac (OTCQB: FMCC) today highlighted the key milestones it achieved in

2020 as part of its transition from LIBOR (formally the London Interbank Offered Rate) to the 

Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR). Freddie Mac made significant progress across the 

enterprise in support of this important effort for the industry. Among its most recent 

achievements, in November, the company for the first time began purchasing and securitizing 

single-family adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans tied to SOFR. 

“Freddie Mac’s 2020 actions continued to prepare us for the future cessation of LIBOR,” said 

Freddie Mac Interim President Mike Hutchins, executive sponsor of the company’s LIBOR 

transition effort. “This was a complex project across the firm with an aggressive set of 

objectives.”

Through external engagement with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and other 

parties, including participation on the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC) and its 

working groups, Freddie Mac also launched new SOFR-indexed offerings and announced the 

discontinuation of LIBOR-indexed products.

“As an active member of the ARRC and many of its subcommittees, we worked with the 

industry to understand how different conventions of overnight SOFR can be used in our 
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products and offerings,” said Ameez Nanjee, Vice President, Asset Liability Management and 

Freddie Mac’s official representative to the ARRC.

Although recent proposals in the United Kingdom indicate that LIBOR’s cessation date may be 

extended from the end of 2021 to mid-2023, Freddie Mac remains committed to preparing for 

a transition to alternative reference rates as soon as practical. The company plans to cease

purchasing LIBOR-based products by December 31, 2020 and will continue developing liquidity 

in SOFR-based products. Freddie Mac will share additional information about its LIBOR 

transition efforts and milestones once the relevant U.K. parties have announced their final 

plans for LIBOR’s cessation.

Key accomplishments for 2020 included:

Single-Family

• Announcing that December 31, 2020 is the last date for LIBOR-indexed ARM purchases

for mortgages originated on or before September 30, 2020.

• Enabling single-family lenders to start underwriting SOFR-indexed ARMs and 

seller/servicers to sell and securitize Single-Family SOFR ARM mortgages. 

Multifamily

• Quoting SOFR-indexed Multifamily Loans, with $647 million funded to date, and more 

than $11.2 billion in the firm pipeline.

• Launching SOFR-indexed Small Balance Loans with $1.2 billion in the pipeline.

 
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Capital Markets

• Ending issuance of LIBOR-indexed floating rate unsecured debt that matures beyond the 

end of 2021

• Issuing more than $144 billion in SOFR-indexed debt to date. 

• Launching SOFR-indexed CMOs, with $1.2 billion of issuance to date. 

• Announcing the end of LIBOR-indexed collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) 

issuance. 

• Settling the first SOFR-based Single-Family Credit Risk Transfer transaction, a $1.1 billion 

STACR REMIC. 

• Transitioning discounting for all derivatives (both cleared and bilateral books) from 

Effective Federal Funds Rate (EFFR) to SOFR discounting rate.

• Adhering to the ISDA Protocol in escrow, demonstrating our continued commitment to a 

transition from LIBOR to SOFR. 

These achievements were in addition to the 2019 launch of Multifamily Floating Rate K-Deals,

including a class with a SOFR-indexed coupon, and Freddie Mac’s engagement in the SOFR 

derivatives markets.

More information about the LIBOR transition is available on Freddie Mac’s LIBOR Transition 

website, which hosts the LIBOR Transition Playbook and answers to frequently asked 

questions. 

Freddie Mac makes home possible for millions of families and individuals by providing 

mortgage capital to lenders. Since our creation by Congress in 1970, we’ve made housing more 

accessible and affordable for homebuyers and renters in communities nationwide. We are 

building a better housing finance system for homebuyers, renters, lenders, and taxpayers. 
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Learn more at FreddieMac.com, Twitter @FreddieMac, and Freddie Mac’s blog 

FreddieMac.com/blog.

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