UPDATE 1-Barclays jumps to top dealer for Fannie, Freddie
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NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Barclays Capital, the securities arm of Barclays Plc (BARC.L) jumped to the top dealer in volume for corporate debt obligations of companies such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to Thomson Financial.
Barclays led Wall Street underwriters in selling $285.97 billion in the so-called "agency" debt in the first nine months of the year, up $6.6 billion in the same period for 2006. Barclays, which was fifth in the ranking last year, unseated JPMorgan (JPM.N) from the No. 1 slot, the Thomson data shows.
Agency debt finances the investment portfolios of government-chartered Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), and short-term loans to banks by the Federal Home Loan Bank system. The Federal Farm Credit Banks also issue agency debt.
The $2.7 trillion market has grown slowly since 2005 as investment portfolios at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have operated under limits from their regulator. The regulator recently gave some flexibility to the companies, which said they could do more to help the struggling U.S. housing market if they had room to purchase more mortgage assets.
The Federal Home Loan Banks have boosted their advances to members in recent months as other sources of funding have dried up, including mortgage-backed securities issued by Wall Street firms.
Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) rose at least five slots in the rankings to third, fourth and fifth, respectively, behind second-place JPMorgan. Merrill Lynch & Co MER.N, Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. LEH.N lost ground.
