The Federal Home Loan Banks have mounted strong opposition to a proposal from the Federal Housing Finance Agency that would revise standards for membership in the FHLBank system. “The proposed rule, if finalized, will fundamentally alter the FHLBanks’ relationship with their members and impair the FHLBank system’s ability to advance its congressionally-mandated mission of providing liquidity to support housing finance markets and the U.S. financial markets generally,” said John Bowman, a partner at the Venable law firm, in a comment letter submitted on behalf of the Council of FHLBanks. The FHFA issued the proposed rule in September and the comment deadline closed this week. More than 1,200 comments were submitted with community banks, real estate investment trusts, state regulators and ...