Freddie Mac completed a $5.1 billion single‑family credit risk transfer (CRT) issuance for 2025, comprising five Structured Agency Credit Risk (STACR) and six Agency Credit Insurance Structure (ACIS) transactions. The package covered $163 billion of unpaid principal balance on single‑family mortgages, marking the conclusion of the company’s 2025 CRT program.
The issuance was accompanied by three tender offers that repurchased approximately $3.0 billion of STACR notes and the exercise of call options on five STACR tranches (valued at roughly $0.5 billion) and 18 ACIS tranches (with a risk in force of about $1.5 billion). These actions were taken to remove coverage from notes that had substantially deleveraged, thereby reducing the cost of the program and enhancing capital relief for Freddie Mac.
By completing the CRT issuance and executing the tender offers and call options, Freddie Mac strengthened its capital position. As of September 30, 2025, roughly 62% of the company’s single‑family mortgage portfolio was covered by credit enhancement, a level that supports regulatory capital requirements and reduces the taxpayer‑backed risk exposure.
Investor demand for the program remained robust. A January 2025 STACR transaction attracted more than $3.5 billion in demand, with several tranches oversubscribed multiple times. The floating‑rate nature of CRT products and the broader “resilience trade” have continued to attract institutional and reinsurance investors, providing a stable funding source for Freddie Mac’s mortgage portfolio.
Freddie Mac’s new CEO, Kenny Smith, took office on December 17, 2025, following the appointment of Michael Hutchins as president. Smith’s leadership signals continuity in the company’s risk‑management strategy while positioning Freddie Mac to navigate evolving market conditions.
Christian Valencia, Vice President and head of Credit Risk Transfer, emphasized the program’s evolution: “Freddie Mac launched the first agency single‑family CRT transaction in 2013, creating a new asset class. Since then, we have continually refined our offerings to broaden the investor pool and protect our portfolio more efficiently.”
The CRT program remains a core component of Freddie Mac’s risk‑management toolkit. The company plans to issue one to two STACR and ACIS transactions per quarter in 2026, while continuing its tender‑offer program and evaluating call options when eligible. This ongoing activity underscores Freddie Mac’s commitment to transferring credit risk to private capital markets and maintaining a resilient capital structure.
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