Home
Jump to Risk Factors
Jump to Industries
Jump to Exposures
Jump to Event Codes
Jump to Wiki Summary

Industries
Asset Management and Custody Banks
Health Care Distribution and Services
Application Software
Diversified Financial Services

Exposures
Military
Political reform
Provide
Regime
Economic

Event Codes
Empathize
Sports contest
Solicit support
Warn
Yield to order
Adjust
Demand
Request
Sanction
Acknowledge responsibility
Yield

Wiki	Wiki Summary
Subprime mortgage crisis	The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline in US home prices after the collapse of a housing bubble, leading to mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, and the devaluation of housing-related securities.
Mortgage-backed security	A mortgage-backed security (MBS) is a type of asset-backed security (an 'instrument') which is secured by a mortgage or collection of mortgages. The mortgages are aggregated and sold to a group of individuals (a government agency or investment bank) that securitizes, or packages, the loans together into a security that investors can buy.
Borrowing center	A borrowing center, borrowing shop, borrowing bar, item library or library of things is a library of household items and tools, usually organized as a volunteer cooperative, nonprofit organization, or operated by the local public library.Borrowing centers are part of the sharing economy, which was termed in 1984 by Harvard economist Martin Weitzman. In contrast to a rental store, which offers many of the same items, borrowing centres are operated on a non-profit or collective basis.
Borrowing Trouble	Borrowing Trouble is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Frank R. Strayer and starring Jed Prouty, Shirley Deane and Spring Byington. It is part of the Jones Family series of films and is also known by the alternative title of The Jones Family in Borrowing Trouble.
Monopolistic competition	Monopolistic competition is a type of imperfect competition such that there are many producers competing against each other, but selling products that are differentiated from one another (e.g. by branding or quality) and hence are not perfect substitutes.
Competition (biology)	Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which both require a resource that is in limited supply (such as food, water, or territory). Competition lowers the fitness of both organisms involved, since the presence of one of the organisms always reduces the amount of the resource available to the other.In the study of community ecology, competition within and between members of a species is an important biological interaction.
Swimsuit competition	A swimsuit competition, more commonly now called a bikini contest, is a beauty contest which is judged and ranked while contestants wear a swimsuit, typically a bikini. One of the judging criteria is the physical attractiveness of the contestants.
Market value	Market value or OMV (Open Market Valuation) is the price at which an asset would trade in a competitive auction setting. Market value is often used interchangeably with open market value, fair value or fair market value, although these terms have distinct definitions in different standards, and differ in some circumstances.
United States Treasury security	United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending as an alternative to taxation. Since 2012, U.S. government debt has been managed by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, succeeding the Bureau of the Public Debt.
Tadamasa Goto	Tadamasa Goto (後藤 忠政, Gotō Tadamasa, born September 16, 1943) is a retired yakuza. The US Treasury department put him on a watch-list in December 2015 and he is still engaged in criminal activity.
TreasuryDirect	TreasuryDirect is a website run by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service under the United States Department of the Treasury that allows US individual investors to purchase Treasury securities such as Treasury Bills directly from the U.S. government. Its website allows money to be deposited from and withdrawn to personal bank accounts, and allows rolling repurchase of securities as the currently held items mature.
Treasury Information System Architecture Framework	The Treasury Information System Architecture Framework (TISAF) is an early 1990s Enterprise Architecture framework to assist US Treasury Bureaus to develop their Enterprise Information System Architectures (EISAs).The TISAF was developed by the US Department of the Treasury in 1997, and let to the development of the Treasury Enterprise Architecture Framework, released in 2000. The TEAF represents the second-generation framework for Treasury.
Shareholder	A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal owner of shares of the share capital of a public or private corporation. Shareholders may be referred to as members of a corporation.
Equity (finance)	In finance, equity is ownership of assets that may have debts or other liabilities attached to them. Equity is measured for accounting purposes by subtracting liabilities from the value of the assets.
Shareholders' agreement	A shareholders' agreement (sometimes referred to in the U.S. as a stockholders' agreement) (SHA) is an agreement amongst the shareholders or members of a company. In practical effect, it is analogous to a partnership agreement.
Jessica Stockholder	Jessica Stockholder (born 1959) is a Canadian-American artist known for site-specific installation works and sculptures that are often described as "paintings in space." She came to prominence in the early 1990s with monumental works that challenged boundaries between artwork and display environment as well as between pictorial and physical experience. Her art often presents a "barrage" of bold colors, textures and everyday objects, incorporating floors, walls and ceilings and sometimes spilling out of exhibition sites.
Emergency operations center	An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.\nAn EOC is responsible for strategic direction and operational decisions and does not normally directly control field assets, instead leaving tactical decisions to lower commands.
Operations research	Operations research (British English: operational research), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of advanced analytical methods to improve decision-making. It is sometimes considered to be a subfield of mathematical sciences.
List of metropolitan areas in Europe	This list ranks metropolitan areas in Europe by their population according to three different sources; it includes metropolitan areas that have a population of over 1 million.\n\n\n== Sources ==\nList includes metropolitan areas according only studies of ESPON, Eurostat, and OECD. For this reason some metropolitan areas, like Italian Genoa Metropolitan Area (population is over 1.510.000 as of 2012 according "CityRailway" Official Report), aren't included in this list, with data by other statistic survey institutes.
Washington metropolitan area	The Washington metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the National Capital Region, is the metropolitan area centered on Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The area includes all of the District of Columbia and parts of the states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
Phoenix metropolitan area	The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city of Phoenix, that includes much of the central part of Arizona. The United States Office of Management and Budget designates the area as the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), defining it as Maricopa and Pinal counties.
Conditions (album)	Conditions is the debut studio album by Australian rock band The Temper Trap, released in Australia through Liberation Music on 19 June 2009. It was later released in the United Kingdom on 10 August 2009.
Standard temperature and pressure	Standard temperature and pressure (STP) are standard sets of conditions for experimental measurements to be established to allow comparisons to be made between different sets of data. The most used standards are those of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), although these are not universally accepted standards.
Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions	In mathematical optimization, the Karush–Kuhn–Tucker (KKT) conditions, also known as the Kuhn–Tucker conditions, are first derivative tests (sometimes called first-order necessary conditions) for a solution in nonlinear programming to be optimal, provided that some regularity conditions are satisfied.\nAllowing inequality constraints, the KKT approach to nonlinear programming generalizes the method of Lagrange multipliers, which allows only equality constraints.
Savings and loan association	A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; similar institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries include building societies and trustee savings banks.
Multifamily residential	Multifamily residential (also known as multidwelling unit or MDU) is a classification of housing where multiple separate housing units for residential inhabitants are contained within one building or several buildings within one complex. Units can be next to each other (side-by-side units), or stacked on top of each other (top and bottom units).
Section 515 Rural Rental Housing	Section 515 Rural Rental Housing is a USDA rural housing program authorized under Section 515 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1485). The Rural Housing Service (RHS) is authorized to make loans to provide rental housing for low- and moderate-income families in rural areas.
TruAmerica Multifamily	TruAmerica Multifamily is a Los Angeles-based multifamily investment firm that specializes in the acquisition and renovation of large class B apartment properties across the United States. Since its founding in 2013 by real estate investor Robert E. Hart, the company has acquired and/or asset manages a portfolio of more than 40,000 apartment units valued at roughly $10 billion.
A. G. Spanos Companies	A.G. Spanos Companies is a builder of multifamily residences, commercial buildings and communities, founded by billionaire Alex Spanos, and considered to be one of the biggest apartment developers in the United States.
Dividend discount model	In finance and investing, the dividend discount model (DDM) is a method of valuing the price of a company's stock based on the fact that its stock is worth the sum of all of its future dividend payments, discounted back to their present value. In other words, DDM is used to value stocks based on the net present value of the future dividends.
Synthetic CDO	A synthetic CDO (collateralized debt obligation) is a variation of a CDO that generally uses credit default swaps and other derivatives to obtain its investment goals. As such, it is a complex derivative financial security sometimes described as a bet on the performance of other mortgage (or other) products, rather than a real mortgage security.
2022 Russian debt default	The United States Treasury Department in February moved to cut off Russia from the global economy after the Russo-Ukrainian War, announcing that it would immobilize Russian central bank assets that are held in the United States and impose sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund. The $284 billion or more in frozen assets is nearly half of the $585 billion that Russia had stockpiled as of June 2021.The Biden administration had allowed Russia to continue to repurpose the substantial funds it has kept in U.S. financial institutions to make required payments on its sovereign debt.
Waldorf-Astoria (1893–1929)	The Waldorf–Astoria originated as two hotels, built side by side by feuding relatives on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1893 and expanded in 1897, the Waldorf–Astoria was razed in 1929 to make way for construction of the Empire State Building.
Waldorf Astoria New York	The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story 625 ft (191 m) Art Deco landmark designed by architects Schultze and Weaver, which was completed in 1931.
Discretion	Discretion has the meaning of acting on one's own authority and judgment. In law, discretion as to legal rulings, such as whether evidence is excluded at a trial, may be exercised by a judge.
Administrative discretion	In public administration, administrative discretion refers to the flexible exercising of judgment and decision making allowed to public administrators. Regulatory agencies have the power to exercise this type of discretion in their day-to-day activities, and there have been cases where regulatory agencies have abused this power.
Selective enforcement	In law, selective enforcement occurs when government officials such as police officers, prosecutors, or regulators exercise enforcement discretion, which is the power to choose whether or how to punish a person who has violated the law. The biased use of enforcement discretion, such as that based on racial prejudice or corruption, is usually considered a legal abuse and a threat to the rule of law.

Risk Factors
ASTORIA FINANCIAL CORP Item 1A Risk Factors
29 ITEM 1A RISK FACTORS The following is a summary of risk factors relevant to our operations which should be carefully reviewed
These risk factors do not necessarily appear in the order of importance
Our earnings depend largely on the relationship between the yield on our interest-earning assets, primarily our mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities, and the cost of our deposits and borrowings
This relationship, known as the interest rate spread, is subject to fluctuation and is affected by economic and competitive factors which influence market interest rates, the volume and mix of interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities, and the level of non-performing assets
Fluctuations in market interest rates affect customer demand for our products and services
We are subject to interest rate risk to the degree that our interest-bearing liabilities reprice or mature more slowly or more rapidly or on a different basis than our interest-earning assets
In addition, the actual amount of time before mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities are repaid can be significantly impacted by changes in mortgage prepayment rates and market interest rates
Mortgage prepayment rates will vary due to a number of factors, including the regional economy in the area where the underlying mortgages were originated, seasonal factors, demographic variables and the assumability of the underlying mortgages
However, the major factors affecting prepayment rates are prevailing interest rates, related mortgage refinancing opportunities and competition
Some of our borrowings contain features that would allow them to be called prior to their contractual maturity
This would generally occur during periods of rising interest rates
If this were to occur, we would need to either renew the borrowings at a potentially higher rate of interest, which would negatively impact our net interest income, or repay such borrowings
If we sell securities to fund the repayment of such borrowings, any decline in estimated market value with respect to the securities sold would be realized and could result in a loss upon such sale
During 2005, the Federal Open Market Committee, or FOMC, raised the federal funds rate eight times (a total of 200 basis points)
As a result, US Treasury yields at December 31, 2005 have increased from December 31, 2004, with the exception of the thirty year US Treasury yield, which has decreased
Although US Treasury yields have risen, yields on the longer end of the US Treasury yield curve have not risen to the same degree as shorter term yields
This has resulted in a significant flattening of the US Treasury yield curve, which began in the latter half of 2004 and continued during 2005
Our short-term borrowings, as well as our deposits, are generally priced relative to short-term US Treasury yields whereas our mortgage loans and mortgage-backed securities are generally priced relative to medium-term (two to five years) US Treasury yields
The flattening of the yield curve reduces the spread between the yield on our interest-earning assets and the cost of our deposits and borrowings, thereby reducing our net income
29 Interest rates do and will continue to fluctuate, and we cannot predict future Federal Reserve Board actions or other factors that will cause rates to change
Changes in interest rates may reduce our stockholders &apos equity
At December 31, 2005, dlra1dtta84 billion of our securities were classified as available-for-sale
The estimated fair value of our available-for-sale securities portfolio may increase or decrease depending on changes in interest rates
In general, as interest rates rise, the estimated fair value of our fixed rate securities portfolio will decrease
Our securities portfolio is comprised primarily of fixed rate securities
We increase or decrease stockholders &apos equity by the amount of the change in estimated fair value of our available-for-sale securities portfolio, net of the related tax benefit, under the category of accumulated other comprehensive income/loss
Therefore, a decline in the estimated fair value of this portfolio will result in a decline in reported stockholders &apos equity, as well as book value per common share and tangible book value per common share
This decrease will occur even though the securities are not sold
If these securities are never sold, the decrease will be recovered over the life of the securities
Our results of operations are affected by economic conditions in the New York metropolitan area
Our retail banking and a significant portion of our lending business (41dtta6prca of our mortgage loan portfolio at December 31, 2005) are concentrated in the New York metropolitan area
As a result of this geographic concentration, our results of operations largely depend upon economic conditions in this area
Decreases in real estate values could adversely affect the value of property used as collateral for our loans
Adverse changes in the economy caused by inflation, recession, unemployment or other factors beyond our control may also have a negative effect on the ability of our borrowers to make timely loan payments, which would have an adverse impact on our earnings
Consequently, a deterioration in economic conditions in the New York metropolitan area could have a material adverse impact on the quality of our loan portfolio, which could result in an increase in delinquencies, causing a decrease in our interest income as well as an adverse impact on our loan loss experience, causing an increase in our allowance for loan losses
Such a deterioration also could adversely impact the demand for our products and services, and, accordingly, on our results of operations
Strong competition within our market areas could hurt our profits and slow growth
The New York metropolitan area has a high density of financial institutions, a number of which are significantly larger and have greater financial resources than we have
Additionally over the past several years, various large out-of-state financial institutions have entered the New York metropolitan area market
All are our competitors to varying degrees
We face intense competition both in making loans and attracting deposits
Our competition for loans, both locally and in the aggregate, comes principally from mortgage banking companies, commercial banks, savings banks and savings and loan associations
Our most direct competition for deposits comes from commercial banks, savings banks, savings and loan associations and credit unions
We also face competition for deposits from money market mutual funds and other corporate and government securities funds as well as from other financial intermediaries such as brokerage firms and insurance companies
Price competition for loans and deposits might result in us earning less on our loans and paying more on our deposits, which would reduce our net interest income
Competition also makes it more difficult to grow our loan and deposit balances
Our profitability depends upon our continued ability to compete successfully in our market areas
Our increased emphasis on multi-family and commercial real estate lending may expose us to increased lending risks
At December 31, 2005, dlra3dtta90 billion, or 27dtta3prca, of our total loan portfolio consisted of multi-family and commercial real estate loans
While we continue to primarily be a one-to-four family mortgage lender, over the past several years we have increased our emphasis on multi-family and commercial real estate 30 loan originations and intend to continue to emphasize this type of lending
Multi-family and commercial real estate loans generally involve a greater degree of credit risk than one-to-four family loans because they typically have larger balances and are more affected by adverse conditions in the economy
Because payments on loans secured by multi-family properties and commercial real estate often depend upon the successful operation and management of the properties and the businesses which operate from within them, repayment of such loans may be affected by factors outside the borrowerapstas control, such as adverse conditions in the real estate market or the economy or changes in government regulation
As a result of our efforts to continue to grow the multi-family and commercial real estate loan portfolios, we have increased our emphasis on originations of multi-family and commercial real estate loans in states other than New York
Originations in states other than New York represented 34dtta6prca of our total originations of multi-family and commercial real estate loans in 2005, of which 85dtta9prca were originated in New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida
We could be subject to additional risks with respect to multi-family and commercial real estate lending in states other than New York as we have less experience in these areas with this type of lending and less direct oversight of the borrowers
Astoria Federalapstas ability to pay dividends or lend funds to us is subject to regulatory limitations which, to the extent we need but are not able to access such funds, may prevent us from making future dividend payments or principal and interest payments due on our debt obligations
We are a unitary savings and loan association holding company regulated by the OTS and almost all of our operating assets are owned by Astoria Federal
We rely primarily on dividends from Astoria Federal to pay cash dividends to our stockholders, to engage in share repurchase programs and to pay principal and interest on our debt obligations
The OTS regulates all capital distributions by Astoria Federal directly or indirectly to us, including dividend payments
As the subsidiary of a savings and loan association holding company, Astoria Federal must file a notice with the OTS at least 30 days prior to each capital distribution
However, if the total amount of all capital distributions (including each proposed capital distribution) for the applicable calendar year exceeds net income for that year to date plus the retained net income for the preceding two years, then Astoria Federal must file an application to receive the approval of the OTS for a proposed capital distribution
In addition, Astoria Federal may not pay dividends to us if, after paying those dividends, it would fail to meet the required minimum levels under risk-based capital guidelines and the minimum leverage and tangible capital ratio requirements or the OTS notified Astoria Federal that it was in need of more than normal supervision
Under the prompt corrective action provisions of the FDIA, an insured depository institution such as Astoria Federal is prohibited from making a capital distribution, including the payment of dividends, if, after making such distribution, the institution would become &quote undercapitalized &quote (as such term is used in the FDIA)
Based on Astoria Federalapstas current financial condition, we do not expect that this provision will have any impact on our ability to obtain dividends from Astoria Federal
Payment of dividends by Astoria Federal also may be restricted at any time at the discretion of the appropriate regulator if it deems the payment to constitute an unsafe or unsound banking practice
There can be no assurance that Astoria Federal will be able to pay dividends at past levels, or at all, in the future
In addition to regulatory restrictions on the payment of dividends, Astoria Federal is subject to certain restrictions imposed by federal law on any extensions of credit it makes to its affiliates and on investments in stock or other securities of its affiliates
These restrictions prevent affiliates of Astoria Federal, including us, from borrowing from Astoria Federal, unless various types of collateral secure the loans
Federal law limits the aggregate amount of loans to and investments in any single affiliate to 10prca of Astoria Federalapstas capital stock and surplus and also limits the aggregate amount of loans to and investments in all affiliates to 20prca of Astoria Federalapstas capital stock and surplus
31 If we do not receive sufficient cash dividends or borrowings from Astoria Federal, then we may not have sufficient funds to pay dividends, repurchase our common stock or service our debt obligations
We operate in a highly regulated industry, which limits the manner and scope of our business activities
We are subject to extensive supervision, regulation and examination by the OTS and by the FDIC As a result, we are limited in the manner in which we conduct our business, undertake new investments and activities and obtain financing
This regulatory structure is designed primarily for the protection of the deposit insurance funds and our depositors, and not to benefit our stockholders
This regulatory structure also gives the regulatory authorities extensive discretion in connection with their supervisory and enforcement activities and examination policies, including policies with respect to capital levels, the timing and amount of dividend payments, the classification of assets and the establishment of adequate loan loss reserves for regulatory purposes
In addition, we must comply with significant anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism laws
Government agencies have substantial discretion to impose significant monetary penalties on institutions which fail to comply with these laws
Changes in laws, government regulation and monetary policy may have a material effect on our results of operations
Financial institution regulation has been the subject of significant legislation and may be the subject of further significant legislation in the future, none of which is in our control
Significant new laws or changes in, or repeals of, existing laws, including with respect to federal and state taxation, may cause our results of operations to differ materially
In addition, cost of compliance could adversely affect our ability to operate profitably
Further, federal monetary policy significantly affects credit conditions for Astoria Federal, particularly as implemented through the Federal Reserve System, primarily through open market operations in US government securities, the discount rate for bank borrowings and reserve requirements
A material change in any of these conditions would have a material impact on Astoria Federal, and therefore on our results of operations