FHLB Seattle to Pay Fourth Quarter Dividend

SEATTLE – The Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, which had been under a strict supervisory agreement with federal regulators, said it will be paying its credit union and bank members a fourth-quarter dividend, albeit a small one. The Seattle Bank, which had its supervisory agreement lifted earlier this month, announced a fourth quarter payout of $2.2 million, or 10 cents a share, the same as the third quarter dividend–which was its first in two years. The Seattle Bank ran into troubles with its secondary mortgage market program, which it was forced to shed as part of its supervisory agreement with the Federal Housing Finance Board, the regulator for the 12 FHLBs. The Bank has been working over the past three years to work its way out of a $300 million paper loss on financial derivatives it bought to hedge the mortgage portfolio.