Mortgage - Home Loan, Commercial Loan

ATLANTA, Aug. 11 /PRNewswire/ — Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta (the Bank) today released the results for the quarter ended June 30, 2008.

2008 Second Quarter Operating Highlights

As of June 30, 2008, the Bank had total assets of $193.2 billion, an increase of $4.3 billion, or 2.28 percent, from December 31, 2007. This increase was primarily a result of increases in trading securities, held-to-maturity securities and advances, partially offset by a decrease in federal funds sold. Advances, the largest asset on the Bank’s balance sheet, increased by $2.2 billion, or 1.52 percent, during this same period.
The Bank’s net income for the second quarter of 2008 totaled $108.7 million, an increase of 16.6 percent from $93.2 million for the second quarter of 2007. The increase in net income was due to an increase in net interest income, resulting from higher average advances and mortgage-backed securities balances during the period and an increase in interest rate spread.

The 2008 second quarter performance resulted in an annualized return on equity (ROE) of 5.13 percent for the Bank as compared to the 6.05 percent for the second quarter of 2007. The ROE spread to three-month average LIBOR improved between the periods, equaling 2.38 percent for the second quarter of 2008 as compared to 0.69 percent for the second quarter of 2007.

For the three months ended June 30, 2008, the Bank distributed $114.3 million of earnings to members as a return on their capital investment in the Bank, representing an annualized dividend rate of 5.57 percent, as compared to 6.0 percent for each of the previous two quarters. The Bank’s retained earnings balance was $465.3 million as of June 30, 2008.

The Bank filed its full financial report on Form 10-Q on Monday, August 11, 2008.

On July 30, 2008, the President of the United States signed into law the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, H.R. 3221 (the “Housing Act”). The Housing Act abolishes the Federal Housing Finance Board and the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (each, one year after the date of enactment) and establishes the Federal Housing Finance Agency as the single regulator of the Federal Home Loan Banks, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

“The Bank has performed well through its second quarter, and intends to continue as a reliable source of wholesale funding,” said Richard A. Dorfman, the Bank’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to working closely with the newly established regulator to ensure the continued strength of the Bank.”

About the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta

The Bank is a cooperative financial services organization that provides funding, community development grants, and other banking services to more than 1,200 member financial institutions in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. The Bank is one of 12 district banks in the Federal Home Loan Bank System (the FHLB System), which since 1990 has contributed more than $2 billion to affordable housing development in the United States.

Some of the statements made in this announcement, including, without limitation, those statements that relate to the Bank’s funding plans and returns, are “forward-looking statements,” which include statements with respect to the Bank’s beliefs, plans, objectives, goals, expectations, anticipations, assumptions, estimates, intentions, and future performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which may be beyond the Bank’s control, and which may cause the Bank’s actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

The forward-looking statements may not be realized due to a variety of factors, including, without limitation: legislative and regulatory actions or changes; future economic and market conditions; changes in demand for advances or consolidated obligations of the Bank and/or the FHLB System; changes in interest rates; political, national and world events; and adverse developments or events affecting or involving other Federal Home Loan Banks or the FHLB System in general. Additional factors that might cause the Bank’s results to differ from these forward-looking statements are provided in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov.

You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, since the statements speak only as of the date that they are made. The Bank has no obligation and does not undertake to publicly update, revise or correct any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this announcement, or after the respective dates on which such statements otherwise are made, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law.