The Secondary Mortgage Market Enhancement Act of 1984 (SMMEA) was an Act of

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

intended to improve the marketability of private label

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 ba ...

passthroughs. It is mentioned as a significant contributing factor in the

subprime mortgage crisis The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, 2007–2008 global financial crisis. It was triggered by a large decline ...

. It declared

nationally recognized statistical rating organization A nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) is a credit rating agency (CRA) approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to provide information that financial firms must rely on for certain regulatory purp ...

(NRSRO) AA- rated mortgage-backed securities to be legal investments equivalent to

Treasury securities 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. gov ...

and other federal

government bond A government bond or sovereign bond is a form of bond issued by a government to support public spending. It generally includes a commitment to pay periodic interest, called coupon payments'','' and to repay the face value on the maturity date ...

s for federally chartered banks (such as

federal savings bank Federal savings associations (also called "federal thrifts" or "federal Savings Banks"), in the United States, are institutions chartered by the Office of Thrift Supervision which is now administered by Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ...

federal savings association Federal savings associations (also called "federal thrifts" or "federal Savings Banks"), in the United States, are institutions chartered by the Office of Thrift Supervision which is now administered by Office of the Comptroller of the Currency a ...

s, etc.), state-chartered financial institutions (such as

depository bank A depository bank (U.S. usage) or depositary bank (predominantly EU usage) is a specialist financial entity which, depending on jurisdiction, facilitates investment in securities markets. Depository banks in the United States In the United St ...

s and

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

companies) unless overridden by state law before October 1991 (of which 21 states did so),The 21 states that utilized the exemption provisions were Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia. and

Department of Labor The Ministry of Labour ('' UK''), or Labor ('' US''), also known as the Department of Labour, or Labor, is a government department responsible for setting labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, training, a ...

-regulated

pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any plan, fund, or scheme which provides retirement income. Pension funds typically have large amounts of money to invest and are the major investors in listed and priva ...

References

* * {{US-law-stub 1984 in law 1984 in economics Affordable housing United States federal banking legislation Subprime mortgage crisis