Federal Home Loan Bank Drops Index

The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco said that it will no longer calculate and publish the six-month cost of fund index for the 11th District. Bank spokeswoman Amy Stewart said the decision was made to discontinue the semiannual index because it is little used by mortgage lenders and few mortgage agreements are tied to it any longer. The change will not affect the bank’s publication of its monthly weighted average cost of funds index. The rate, which tends to lag current market interest rates by several months, measures the average cost of funds to thrifts and other financial institutions in the bank’s 11th District, which covers California, Arizona and Nevada.