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The Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago is a member-owned cooperative, which means financial institutions must purchase capital stock in order to join and maintain membership in the Bank. Purchasing capital stock funds the Bank’s cooperative business model. Applicants have 60 days from the date of their approval to meet their membership stock requirement through the purchase of capital stock. This purchase completes the application process and begins their membership in the FHLBank Chicago.

The Capital Plan is a governing document that lists members’ capital requirements. Read the Second Amended and Restated Capital Plan effective October 1, 2015, here. Select requirements and authorized ranges in effect as of April 1, 2016, for our Second Amended and Restated Capital Plan are detailed below:

A member’s minimum investment requirement is whichever is greater: the membership stock requirement or the activity stock requirement. 

Membership Stock Requirement

A minimum level of stock is required to become a member:

	Current Requirement	Board-Authorized Range
		Minimum	Maximum
% of Mortgage Assets	0.40%	0.20%	2.0%
Membership Stock Floor	$10,000	$500	$20,000
Membership Stock Cap1	$5 million	$10,000	$75 million
B2/B1 Threshold2	$10,000	$10,000	$75 million

Activity Stock Requirement

Additional stock may need to be purchased to support borrowings:

	Current Requirement	Board-Authorized Range
		Minimum	Maximum
Advances Stock Requirements	4.5%	4%3	6%
Acquired Member Asset (AMA) Stock Requirement	0%	0%	6%

¹ The Membership Stock Cap is the lesser of (1) a dollar amount set by the Board of Directors in the authorized range shown above (currently $5 million) or (2) 9.9% of the Bank’s total capital stock on December 31, 2015 (currently, $5 million is the operative cap).
² The amount of a member’s Class B2 Stock that exceeds this $10,000 “threshold” and is necessary to support the member’s activity stock requirement is automatically converted to Class B1 Stock.
³ The Board of Directors may adjust this percentage to as low as 2% for certain advances and has currently authorized a pool of funds available for advances that can be capitalized at 2% under the Bank’s Reduced Capitalization Advance Program.

Before a member can take advantage of the FHLBank Chicago’s products and services, members must:

• Sign and execute documentation
• Pledge and report eligible collateral