WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department said Monday it will start winding down its $142 billion portfolio of agency-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities.
Treasury officials said beginning this month, the department plans to sell as much as $10 billion in agency-guaranteed securities per month, subject to market conditions.
"We're continuing to wind down the emergency programs that were put in place in 2008 and 2009 to help restore market stability, and the sale of these securities is consistent with that effort," Mary J. Miller, assistant secretary for financial markets, said in a release. "We will exit this investment at a gradual and orderly pace to maximize the recovery of taxpayer dollars and help protect the process of repair of the housing finance market."
Based on current market prices, the Treasury Department expects to make a profit for taxpayers.
The department had hired State Street Global Advisors to acquire, manage and dispose of its agency-guaranteed mortgage-backed securities portfolio in 2008. The firm will manage the wind down.
The securities sale is part of Treasury's efforts to end the emergency programs enacted in 2008 and 2009 to bring the nation's financial crisis under control and stoke the floundering economy.
In December, Treasury sold its final share of Citigroup common stock, locking in a profit of more than $12 billion on that Troubled Asset Relief Program investment. General Motors' recent initial public offering cut Treasury's common stock stake in the automaker nearly in half, and accrued $13.5 billion for taxpayers, the department said. Additionally, Treasury recently received $9.6 billion in TARP repayments through the sale of its Ally Financial trust preferred securities holdings and AIG's sale of its MetLife equity stake.
