S&P Downgrades Chicago FHLBank

The long-term counterparty credit rating of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago has been downgraded from AA-plus to AA by Standard & Poor's Ratings Services, according to the Office of Finance. The FHLBank was removed from CreditWatch, and its outlook was upgraded to stable. When S&P placed the bank on CreditWatch, the rating agency said its deteriorating profitability had been attributed to hedging losses involving assets in its Mortgage Partnership Finance program and other hedging adjustments that would hurt future earnings. The Office of Finance, the debt issuance facility of the FHLBanks, also reported that S&P has affirmed the counterparty credit ratings of the FHLBank of Seattle at AA-plus/A-1-plus and upgraded its outlook to positive. The Office of Finance can be found online at http://www.fhlb-of.com, and S&P can be found at http://www.standardandpoors.com.