RISK MANAGEMENT

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

18. RISK MANAGEMENT

The primary risks to the Company are capital, liquidity and funding risk, investment/market risk and credit risk. Interest rates are highly sensitive to many factors, including governmental monetary and tax policies, domestic and international economic and political considerations and other factors beyond the Company’s control. Changes in the general level of interest rates can affect net interest income, which is the difference between the interest income earned on interest earning assets and the interest expense incurred in connection with the interest bearing liabilities, by affecting the spread between the interest earning assets and interest bearing liabilities. Changes in the level of interest rates can also affect the value of the interest earning assets and the Company’s ability to realize gains from the sale of these assets. A decline in the value of the interest earning assets pledged as collateral for borrowings under repurchase agreements and derivative contracts could result in the counterparties demanding additional collateral or liquidating some of the existing collateral to reduce borrowing levels.

The Company may seek to mitigate the potential financial impact by entering into interest rate agreements such as interest rate swaps, interest rate swaptions and other hedges.

Weakness in the mortgage market, the shape of the yield curve and changes in the expectations for the volatility of future interest rates may adversely affect the performance and market value of the Company’s investments. This could negatively impact the Company’s book value. Furthermore, if many of the Company’s lenders are unwilling or unable to provide additional financing, the Company could be forced to sell its investments at an inopportune time when prices are depressed. The Company has established policies and procedures for mitigating risks, including conducting scenario and sensitivity analyses and utilizing a range of hedging strategies.

The payment of principal and interest on the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Agency mortgage-backed securities, which exclude CRT securities issued by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, is guaranteed by those respective agencies and the payment of principal and interest on Ginnie Mae Agency mortgage-backed securities is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. Substantially all of the Company’s Agency mortgage-backed securities have an actual or implied “AAA” rating.

The Company faces credit risk on the portions of its portfolio which are not guaranteed by the respective Agency or by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. The Company is exposed to credit risk on CRE Debt and Preferred Equity Investments, real estate investments, commercial mortgage-backed securities, residential mortgage loans, CRT securities, other non-Agency mortgage-backed securities and corporate debt. MSR values may also be adversely impacted if overall costs to service the underlying mortgage loans increase due to borrower performance. The Company is exposed to risk of loss if an issuer, borrower, tenant or counterparty fails to perform its obligations under contractual terms. The Company has established policies and procedures for mitigating credit risk, including reviewing and establishing limits for credit exposure, limiting transactions with specific counterparties, maintaining qualifying collateral and continually assessing the creditworthiness of issuers, borrowers, tenants and counterparties.

The conditions related to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (“COVID-19”) could further impact the aforementioned primary risks to the Company. The significant decrease in economic activity and/or the resulting decline in the housing market could have an adverse

effect on the value of the Company’s investments in mortgage real estate-related assets, particularly residential real estate assets. Further, borrowers may experience difficulties meeting their obligations or seek to forbear payment on or refinance their mortgage loans to avail themselves of lower rates which may have an adverse impact on the value of the Company’s mortgage real estate related-assets. In addition to residential mortgage-related assets, the adverse economic conditions could negatively impact tenants in the Company’s commercial property assets and/or businesses in which it lends to in connection with its middle market lending activities, resulting in potential delinquencies, defaults or declines in asset values.

If conditions related to COVID-19 persist, the Company could also experience an unwillingness or inability of its potential lenders to provide the Company with or renew financing, increased margin calls, and/or additional capital requirements particularly in connection with the Company’s less liquid credit assets. These conditions could force the Company to sell its assets at inopportune times or otherwise cause the Company to potentially revise its strategic business initiatives, which could adversely affect its business. The extent of the COVID 19-related disruptions, the duration of the pandemic and the effectiveness of government policies, laws and plans are unknown at this time.