Farm Credit Bank of Texas

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Farm Credit Bank of Texas, located in Austin, Texas, is a wholesale financing institution that is part of the nationwide Farm Credit System. The Congressionally mandated mission of the Farm Credit System is to provide a stable and dependable source of financing to rural America, farmers, ranchers and those businesses that provide essential services that support rural America. The bank operates under a charter issued by the Farm Credit Administration, an independent regulatory agency within the executive branch of the federal government. The bank provides funding and related services to twenty local Farm Credit Associations (Agricultural Credit Associations and Federal Land Credit Associations) in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Texas.

Farm Credit Bank of Texas is a cooperative owned by these Farm Credit Associations, which directly finance rural real estate, agricultural production, country homes and agribusiness firms. Together with the other four banks of the Farm Credit System (AgFirst Farm Credit Bank, Columbia, South Carolina; AgriBank FCB, St. Paul, Minnesota; CoBank, ACB, Denver, Colorado; and U. S. AgBank, FCB, Wichta, Kansas), the bank generates funds from the issuance of debt securities in the national and international financial markets through the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation, a joint subsidiary of the banks of the Farm Credit System. These debt securites are the joint and several liabilities of the banks of the Farm Credit System and are neither guaranteed by the federal government nor backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government. The Farm Credit Insurance Fund is available to protect investors in Farm Credit System debt securities. As of September 2008, the long-term debt of the Farm Credit System carries the ratings of AAA from Standard & Poor's Rating Service and Fitch Ratings and Aaa from Moody's Investors Service. As of the same date, the Farm Credit System's short-term debt carries the ratings of A-1+, F1+ and P-1, respectively, from the three rating agencies. Complete information on the Farm Credit System's debt securites can be found at the website of the Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation.

History

Farm Credit Bank of Texas is the product of the 1988 merger of the Federal Land Bank of Texas and Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Texas. These banks were known as the Federal Land Bank of Houston and the Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Houston prior to changing their names in 1979, and were located in Houston from their respective founding dates of 1916 and 1923 until they relocated to Austin in 1982.

External links

* [http://www.farmcreditbank.com/ Farm Credit Bank of Texas website]
* [http://www.farmcredit-ffcb.com/ Federal Farm Credit Banks Funding Corporation website]