Since 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency failed to submit the Federal Home Loan Banks’ director expense data to Congress, as required by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, the Federal Housing Finance Agency Office of Inspector General found.
Each FHLBank has a board of directors that guides its programs and operations, which then reports its expenses incurred by members of the boards to the bank.
But despite the FHLBanks submitting in the required information to the FHFA, a review of the data found that it contained inconsistencies and limitations that diminish its usefulness.
Over the past 4 years, the director expenses for the 12 FHLBanks and the Office of Finance from 2010 through 2012 totaled approximately $3 million each year.
The FHFA realized it was not reporting this information when it was being evaluated and said it would begin doing so in its 2013 annual report.
However, the FHFA OIG said the FHFA should address potential data limitations to ensure the reliability of the director expense information that it has stated it will report to Congress in 2014.
As a result, the FHFA OIG said the FHFA should review the 2013 director expense data submitted by the 12 banks to identify and correct and errors. Additionally, it should issue guidance designed to ensure the consistency and utility of the director expense data submitted to the agency.
In fixing these errors, the FHA OIG said it will enable the FHFA to ensure transparency with respect to these expenses and their reimbursement by the FHLBanks.
