Donald Holley, managing director at AGNC Ventures (Nasdaq: AGNC), participated in a video interview in conjunction with Nareit’s REITworks: 2022 Conference held on Sept. 12-13 in La Quinta, California.
Holley discussed how the mREIT is preparing for new SEC disclosure rules. He noted that the company is currently finishing its ESG report and for first time is using The Taskforce on Climate Related Financial Disclosures.
AGNC Ventures has also been going through its overall risk framework to get a better understanding of how other climate related risks will impact the business. The company will continue to assess those risks over time to make sure it is taking them into account and will also keep an eye on new disclosure requirements, Holley said.
Holley noted that it has been a challenging time for all mortgage investors. One of the mREIT’s key areas of focus is interest rate risk. AGNC Ventures uses a variety of derivative products to hedge its interest rate risk, he said; “We’ve had a pretty robust hedging policy and we’ve kept our interest rate risk fairly low.”
Meanwhile, Holley noted that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate tightening has widened the spread on agency mortgage-backed securities, causing a lot of turbulence in book value. He added, however, that the spread has also created investment opportunities.