Two Harbors Investment (TWO) 10-K2022 FY Annual report

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

As of June 30, 2022, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was approximately $1.7 billion based on the closing sale price as reported on the NYSE on that date.

As of February 21, 2023, there were 96,616,279 shares of common stock, par value $0.01 per share, issued and outstanding.

Portions of the registrant’s definitive Proxy Statement for the 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission under Regulation 14A within 120 days after the end of registrant’s fiscal year covered by this Annual Report, are incorporated by reference into Part III.

Two Harbors Investment Corp. is a Maryland corporation focused on investing in, financing and managing Agency residential mortgage-backed securities, or Agency RMBS, mortgage servicing rights, or MSR, and other financial assets, which we collectively refer to as our target assets. We operate as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, as defined under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code. The terms “Two Harbors,” “we,” “our,” “us” and the “company” refer to Two Harbors Investment Corp. and its subsidiaries as a consolidated entity.

We were incorporated on May 21, 2009 and commenced operations as a publicly traded company on October 28, 2009, upon completion of a merger with Capitol Acquisition Corp., or Capitol, which became our wholly owned indirect subsidiary as a result of the merger. Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE, under the symbol “TWO”.

Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted total return to our stockholders over the long term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We acquire and manage an investment portfolio of our target assets, which include the following:

We have elected to be treated as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. To qualify as a REIT, we are required to meet certain investment and operating tests and annual distribution requirements. We generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes on our taxable income to the extent that we annually distribute all of our net taxable income to stockholders, do not participate in prohibited transactions and maintain our intended qualification as a REIT. However, certain activities that we may perform may cause us to earn income which will not be qualifying income for REIT purposes. We have designated certain of our subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRSs, as defined in the Code, to engage in such activities, and we may form additional TRSs in the future. We also operate our business in a manner that will permit us to maintain our exemption from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the 1940 Act.

Our team of investment professionals has broad experience in managing our target assets and has demonstrated the ability to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns under different market conditions and cycles. We have extensive long-term relationships with financial intermediaries, including prime brokers, investment banks, broker-dealers and asset custodians. We believe these relationships enhance our ability to source, finance, protect and hedge our investments and, thus, enable us to succeed in various credit and interest rate environments. We also benefit from our risk management, accounting, operations, legal, compliance and information technology teams.

On August 2, 2022, Matrix Financial Services Corporation, or Matrix, one of our wholly owned subsidiaries, entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement to acquire RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation, or RoundPoint, from Freedom Mortgage Corporation. In connection with the acquisition, Matrix has agreed to pay a purchase price upon closing in an amount equal to the tangible net book value of RoundPoint, plus a premium amount of $10.5 million, subject to certain additional post-closing adjustments. In connection with the transaction, RoundPoint will divest its retail origination business as well as its RPX servicing exchange platform. Matrix also agreed to engage RoundPoint as a subservicer prior to the closing date and began transferring loans to RoundPoint in the fourth quarter of 2022. Upon closing, all servicing licenses and operational capabilities will remain with RoundPoint, and RoundPoint will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Matrix. The parties expect to close the transaction in 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and the receipt of required regulatory and GSE approvals.

This Annual Report on Form 10-K contains, or incorporates by reference, not only historical information, but also forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, and that are subject to the safe harbors created by such sections. Forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties. Our actual results may differ from our beliefs, expectations, estimates, and projections and, consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Forward-looking statements are not historical in nature and can be identified by words such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “target,” “believe,” “intend,” “seek,” “plan,” “goals,” “future,” “likely,” “may,” and similar expressions or their negative forms, or by references to strategy, plans, or intentions. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, among other things, those described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the caption “Risk Factors.” Other risks, uncertainties, and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected are described below and may be described from time to time in reports we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or the SEC, including our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Important factors, among others, that may affect our actual results include:

This Annual Report on Form 10-K may contain statistics and other data that, in some cases, have been obtained or compiled from information made available by mortgage loan servicers and other third-party service providers.

Our investment objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted total return to our stockholders over the long term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We intend to achieve this objective by constructing a well-balanced portfolio consisting of Agency RMBS, MSR and other financial assets, with a focus on managing various associated risks, including interest rate, prepayment, credit, mortgage spread and financing risk. The preservation of book value is of paramount importance to our ability to generate total return on an ongoing basis.

Our investment team makes investment decisions based on a rigorous asset selection process that takes into consideration a variety of factors, including expected cash yield, risk-adjusted returns, current and projected credit fundamentals, current and projected macroeconomic considerations, current and projected supply and demand, credit and market risk concentration limits, liquidity, cost of financing and financing availability. It is our intention to select our assets in such a way as to maintain our REIT qualification and our exemption from registration under the 1940 Act.

Our portfolio includes assets that are primarily sensitive to changes in interest rates, prepayments and mortgage spreads, including but not limited to Agency RMBS, MSR and related hedging transactions. These assets have minimal exposure to the underlying credit performance of the investments. Our portfolio is managed as a whole and our resources are allocated and financial performance is assessed on a consolidated basis. Our target asset classes are as follows:

Our Agency RMBS portfolio is comprised primarily of fixed rate mortgage-backed securities backed by single-family and multi-family mortgage loans. All of our principal and interest Agency RMBS are Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage pass-through certificates or collateralized mortgage obligations, or Ginnie Mae mortgage pass-through certificates, which are backed by the guarantee of the U.S. government. The majority of these securities consist of whole pools in which we own all of the investment interests in the securities.

One of our wholly owned subsidiaries holds the requisite approvals from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to own and manage MSR, which represent a contractual right to control the servicing of a mortgage loan, the obligation to service the loan in accordance with relevant standards and the right to collect a fee for the performance of servicing activities, such as collecting principal and interest from a borrower and distributing those payments to the owner of the loan. We do not directly service the mortgage loans underlying the MSR we acquire; rather, we contract with appropriately licensed third-party subservicers to handle substantially all servicing functions in the name of the subservicer for the loans underlying our MSR. As the servicer of record, however, we remain accountable to the GSEs for all servicing matters and, accordingly, provide substantial oversight of each of our subservicers. We believe MSR are a natural fit for our portfolio over the long term. Our MSR business leverages our core competencies in prepayment and credit risk analytics and the MSR assets may provide offsetting risks to our Agency RMBS, hedging both interest rate and mortgage spread risk. 

In making our capital allocation decisions, we take into consideration a number of factors, including the opportunities available in the marketplace, the cost and availability of financing, and the cost of hedging interest rate, prepayment, credit and other portfolio risks. In the ordinary course of business, we make investment decisions and allocate capital in accordance with our views on the changing risk/reward dynamics in the market and in our portfolio. Going forward, we expect our capital to be fully allocated to our strategy of pairing Agency RMBS and MSR. We have expertise in mortgage credit and may choose to invest again in those assets should the opportunity arise.

Our board of directors has approved the following investment guidelines:

These investment guidelines may be changed from time to time by our board of directors in its discretion without the approval of our stockholders.

Within the constraints of the foregoing investment guidelines, we have broad authority to select, finance and manage our investment portfolio. As a general matter, our investment strategy is designed to enable us to:

Within the requirements of the investment guidelines, we make determinations as to the percentage of our assets that will be invested in each of our target assets. Our investment decisions depend on prevailing market conditions and may change over time in response to opportunities available in different interest rate, economic and credit environments. As a result, we cannot predict the percentage of our assets that will be invested in any of our target asset classes at any given time. We believe that the diversification of our portfolio of assets and the flexibility of our strategy, combined with the expertise of our investment team, will enable us to achieve attractive risk-adjusted total return under a variety of market conditions and economic cycles.

We deploy moderate leverage to fund the acquisition of our target assets and increase potential returns to our stockholders. We are not required to maintain any particular leverage ratio. The amount of leverage we deploy for particular investments in our target assets depends upon a variety of factors, including without limitation: general economic, political and financial market conditions; the anticipated liquidity and price volatility of our assets; the gap between the duration of assets and liabilities, including hedges; the availability and cost of financing our assets; our opinion of the credit worthiness of financing counterparties; the health of the U.S. residential mortgage and housing markets; our outlook for the level, slope and volatility of interest rates; the credit quality of the loans underlying our target assets; the rating assigned to securities; and our outlook for asset spreads relative to the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, curve, the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR, curve, the Overnight Index Swap Rate, or OIS, the U.S. federal funds rate, and other benchmark rate curves.

One of our subsidiary trust entities, MSR Issuer Trust, was formed for the purpose of financing MSR through securitization, pursuant to which, through two of our wholly owned subsidiaries, MSR is pledged to MSR Issuer Trust and in return, MSR Issuer Trust issues term notes to qualified institutional buyers and a variable funding note, or VFN, to one of the subsidiaries, in each case secured on a pari passu basis. In connection with the transaction, we also entered into a repurchase facility that is secured by the VFN issued in connection with the MSR securitization transaction, which is collateralized by our MSR.

A significant decrease in the advance rate or an increase in the haircut could result in us having to sell assets in order to meet additional margin requirements by the lender. We expect to mitigate our risk of margin calls under financing arrangements by deploying leverage at an amount that is below what could be used under current advance rates.

In order to reduce our exposure to risks associated with lender counterparty concentration, we generally seek to diversify our exposure by entering into repurchase agreements with multiple counterparties. At December 31, 2022, we had $8.6 billion of outstanding balances under repurchase agreements with 20 counterparties, with a maximum net exposure (the difference between the amount loaned to us, including interest payable, and the value of the assets pledged by us as collateral, including accrued interest receivable on such assets) to any single lender of $158.3 million, or 7.2% of stockholders’ equity.

We believe that our people are the foundation of our success. We are dedicated to providing human capital management best practices that evolve with the needs of our business and our people. We are committed to attracting and retaining the industry’s top talent by providing competitive wages and benefits and cultivating a workplace environment in which all of our employees can thrive and contribute. As of December 31, 2022, we had 97 full time equivalent employees based out of our two office locations in Minneapolis, Minnesota and New York, New York.

Our business is subject to extensive regulation by U.S. federal and state governmental authorities, and self-regulatory organizations. We are required to comply with numerous federal and state laws, including those described below. The laws, rules and regulations comprising this regulatory framework change frequently, as can the interpretation and enforcement of existing laws, rules and regulations. Some of the laws, rules and regulations to which we are subject are intended primarily to safeguard and protect consumers, rather than stockholders or creditors. On occasion, we may receive requests from U.S. federal and state agencies for records, documents and information regarding our policies, procedures and practices regarding our business activities. We incur significant ongoing costs to comply with these regulations.

We elected to be taxed as a REIT under the Code, commencing with our taxable period ended December 31, 2009. Our qualification as a REIT depends upon our ability to meet on a continuing basis, through actual investment and operating results, various complex requirements under the Code relating to, among other things, the sources of our gross income, the composition and value of our assets, our distribution levels and the diversity of ownership of our shares. We believe that we are organized in conformity with the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT under the Code, and we conduct our operations in a manner which will enable us to continue to meet the requirements for qualification and taxation as a REIT. Certain activities that we may perform may cause us to earn income that will not be qualifying income for REIT purposes. We have designated certain of our subsidiaries as TRSs to engage in such activities, and we may in the future form additional TRSs.

As long as we continue to qualify as a REIT, we generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income tax on the REIT taxable income we distribute currently to our stockholders. If we fail to qualify as a REIT in any taxable year and do not qualify for certain statutory relief provisions, we will be subject to U.S. federal income tax at regular corporate rates and may be precluded from qualifying as a REIT for the subsequent four taxable years following the year during which we lost our REIT qualification. Even if we qualify for taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to certain U.S. federal, state and local taxes on our income or property.

We conduct our operations so that we are not required to register as an investment company under the 1940 Act. If we were to fall within the definition of an investment company, we would be unable to conduct our business as described in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the 1940 Act defines an investment company as any issuer that “is or holds itself out as being engaged primarily in the business of investing, reinvesting or trading in securities.” Section 3(a)(1)(C) of the 1940 Act also defines an investment company as any issuer that “is engaged or proposes to engage in the business of investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading in securities and owns or proposes to acquire investment securities having a value exceeding 40% of the value of the issuer’s total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis.” Excluded from the term “investment securities,” among other things, are U.S. government securities and securities issued by majority-owned subsidiaries that are not themselves investment companies and are not relying on the exclusion from the definition of investment company set forth in Section 3(c)(1) or Section 3(c)(7) of the 1940 Act.

We are organized as a holding company that conducts business primarily through our subsidiaries. Any business conducted through our subsidiaries will be conducted in such a manner as to ensure that we do not meet the definition of “investment company” because less than 40% of the value of our total assets on an unconsolidated basis would consist of “investment securities.”

To avoid registration as an investment company, certain of our subsidiaries rely on certain exemptions from the 1940 Act, including Section 3(c)(5)(C), which exempts entities that are “primarily engaged in the business of purchasing or otherwise acquiring mortgages and other liens on and interests in real estate.” Under the SEC staff’s current guidance, to qualify for this exemption, we must maintain (i) at least 55% of our assets in qualifying interests (referred to as the 55% Test) and (ii) at least 80% of our assets in qualifying interest plus other real estate related assets (referred to as the 80% Test). Qualifying interests for this purpose include mortgage loans and other assets, such as whole pool Agency and non-Agency RMBS, which are considered the functional equivalent of mortgage loans for the purposes of the 1940 Act. We expect each of our subsidiaries that may rely on Section 3(c)(5)(C) to invest at least 55% of its assets in qualifying interests in accordance with SEC staff guidance, and an additional 25% of its assets in either qualifying interests or other types of real estate related assets that do not constitute qualifying interests. We believe that we conduct our business so that we are exempt from the 1940 Act under Section 3(c)(5)(C), but rapid changes in the values of our assets could disrupt prior efforts to conduct our business to meet the 55% Test and the 80% Test. Our efforts to comply with the 55% Test and the 80% Test could require us to acquire or dispose of certain assets at unfavorable prices and limit our ability to pursue certain investment opportunities.

Although we do not originate or service residential mortgage loans, we must comply with various federal and state laws, rules and regulations as a result of owning MSR. These rules generally focus on consumer protection and include, among others, rules promulgated under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, or the Dodd-Frank Act, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Modernization Act of 1999, or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. We are also required to maintain qualifications, registrations and licenses in certain states in order to own certain of our assets. These requirements can and do change as statutes and regulations are enacted, promulgated or amended, or as regulatory guidance or interpretations evolve or change, and the trend in recent years among federal and state lawmakers and regulators has been toward increasing laws, regulations and investigative proceedings in relation to the mortgage industry generally.

The Dodd-Frank Act significantly changed the regulation of financial institutions and the financial services industry, including the mortgage industry. The Dodd-Frank Act tasked many agencies with issuing a variety of new regulations, including rules related to mortgage origination, mortgage servicing, securitization transactions and derivatives. The Dodd-Frank Act also created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, or the CFPB, which has broad rulemaking authority with respect to many of the federal consumer protection laws applicable to the mortgage industry. In addition to its rulemaking authority, the CFPB has supervision, examination and enforcement authority over consumer financial products and services by certain non-depository institutions, including our company. The CFPB has issued a series of rules and related guidance as part of ongoing efforts to enhance consumer protections and create uniform standards for the mortgage lending and servicing industries. These rules include requirements addressing how lenders must evaluate a consumer’s ability to repay a mortgage loan, specific disclosures and communications that must be made to consumers at various stages in the mortgage lending and servicing processes, and specific actions servicers must take at various stages in a loan’s life cycle, including providing assistance to consumers who encounter financial hardship and struggle to make their mortgage payment. These rules have led to increased costs to originate and service loans across the mortgage industry, greater regulatory scrutiny of originators, servicers and other mortgage industry participants from federal and state regulators and increased litigation and complaints against these participants from both consumers and government officials.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act imposes obligations on us to safeguard the information we maintain on mortgage loan borrowers and imposes restrictions on our ability to share that information with third parties and affiliates. In addition, a growing number of states have passed or enhanced laws to further protect borrower information, including laws that regulate the use and storage of personally identifiable information, require notifications to borrowers if the security of their personal information is breached, or require us to encrypt personal information when it is transmitted and stored electronically. These evolving federal and state laws require the ongoing review of our operations, increase our compliance costs, and affect our ability to use and share information with third parties as part of our business.

We have implemented and will continue to implement policies, procedures and, as applicable, information technology systems in order to ensure ongoing compliance with the laws, rules and regulations applicable to our business. We have incurred and expect to incur ongoing operational costs to comply with such laws, rules and regulations.

We also make available, free of charge, the charters for our Audit Committee, Compensation Committee, Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and Risk Oversight Committee, as well as our Corporate Governance Guidelines, Code of Business Conduct and Ethics, Whistleblowing Procedures and Stockholder Communications Policy. Within the time period required by the SEC and the NYSE, we will post on our website any amendment to the Code of Ethics and any waiver applicable to any executive officer, director or senior officer (as defined in the Code of Ethics).

Our Investor Relations Department can be contacted at:

We operate in a highly specialized industry and our success is dependent upon the efforts, experience, diligence, skill, and deep knowledge of our business and historical operations of our executive officers and key employees, as well as their industry knowledge and relationships. The departure of any of our executive officers and/or key employees could have a material adverse effect on our operations and performance.

The REIT provisions of the Code may limit our ability to hedge our assets and liabilities. Any income from a hedging transaction will not constitute gross income for purposes of the 75% or 95% gross income test if we properly identify the transaction as specified in applicable Treasury Regulations and we enter into such transaction (i) in the normal course of our business primarily to manage risk of interest rate or price changes or currency fluctuations with respect to borrowings made or to be made, or ordinary obligations incurred or to be incurred, to acquire or carry real estate assets or (ii) primarily to manage risk of currency fluctuations with respect to any item of income or gain that would be qualifying income under the 75% or 95% gross income tests. To the extent that we enter into other types of hedging transactions, the income from those transactions is likely to be treated as non-qualifying income for purposes of both of these gross income tests. As a result of these rules, we intend to limit our use of advantageous hedging techniques or implement those hedges through a TRS. This could increase the cost of our hedging activities.

A REIT may own up to 100% of the stock of one or more TRSs. A TRS may earn income that would not be qualifying REIT income if earned directly by the parent REIT. Both the TRS and the REIT must jointly elect to treat the subsidiary as a TRS. A corporation of which a TRS directly or indirectly owns more than 35% of the voting power or value of the stock will automatically be treated as a TRS. Overall, no more than 20% of the value of a REIT’s total assets may consist of stock or securities of one or more TRSs. The value of our interests in and thus the amount of assets held in a TRS may also be restricted by our need to qualify for an exclusion from regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act.

Any domestic TRS we own will pay U.S. federal, state and local income tax at regular corporate rates. In addition, the TRS rules limit the deductibility of interest paid or accrued by a TRS to its parent REIT to assure that the TRS is subject to an appropriate level of corporate taxation. The rules also impose a 100% excise tax on certain transactions between a TRS and its parent REIT that are not conducted on an arm’s-length basis. Although we monitor our investments in and transactions with TRSs, there can be no assurance that we will be able to comply with the limitation on the value of our TRSs discussed above or to avoid application of the 100% excise tax discussed above.

None.

We lease administrative office space in New York and Minnesota. We do not own, lease or utilize any physical properties that would be considered material to our business and operations.

From time to time, we may be involved in various legal and regulatory matters that arise in the ordinary course of business. As previously disclosed, on July 15, 2020, we provided PRCM Advisers with a notice of termination of the Management Agreement for “cause” in accordance with Section 15(a) of the Management Agreement. We terminated the Management Agreement for “cause” on the basis of certain material breaches and certain events of gross negligence on the part of PRCM Advisers in the performance of its duties under the Management Agreement. On July 21, 2020, PRCM Advisers filed a complaint against us in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, or the Court. Subsequently, Pine River Domestic Management L.P. and Pine River Capital Management L.P. were added as plaintiffs to the matter. As amended, the complaint, or the Federal Complaint, alleges, among other things, the misappropriation of trade secrets in violation of both the Defend Trade Secrets Act and New York common law, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, unfair competition and business practices, unjust enrichment, conversion, and tortious interference with contract. The Federal Complaint seeks, among other things, an order enjoining us from making any use of or disclosing PRCM Advisers’ trade secret, proprietary, or confidential information; damages in an amount to be determined at a hearing and/or trial; disgorgement of our wrongfully obtained profits; and fees and costs incurred by the plaintiffs in pursuing the action. We have filed our answer to the Federal Complaint and made counterclaims against PRCM Advisers and Pine River Capital Management L.P. On May 5, 2022, the plaintiffs filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings, seeking judgment in their favor on all but one of our counterclaims and on one of our affirmative defenses. We have opposed the motion for judgment on the pleadings, which is pending with the Court. Discovery has commenced and is ongoing. Our board of directors believes the Federal Complaint is without merit and that we have fully complied with the terms of the Management Agreement.

None.

Our common stock is listed on the NYSE under the symbol “TWO”. As of February 21, 2023, 96,616,279 shares of common stock were issued and outstanding.

On September 21, 2022, our board of directors approved a one-for-four reverse stock split of our outstanding shares of common stock. The reverse stock split was effected on November 1, 2022 at 5:01 p.m. Eastern Time. At the effective time, every four issued and outstanding shares of our common stock were converted into one share of common stock. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the reverse stock split; instead, each stockholder holding fractional shares was entitled to receive, in lieu of such fractional shares, cash in an amount determined on the basis of the volume weighted average price of our common stock on the NYSE on November 1, 2022. In connection with the reverse stock split, the number of authorized shares of our common stock was also reduced on a one-for-four basis, from 700,000,000 to 175,000,000. The par value of each share of common stock remained unchanged. All per share amounts, common shares outstanding and common equity-based awards for all periods presented have been adjusted on a retroactive basis to reflect the reverse stock split.

As of February 17, 2023, there were 517 registered holders and approximately 112,512 beneficial owners of our common stock.

We have historically paid dividends on our common stock. All dividend distributions are authorized by our board of directors, in its discretion, and will depend on such items as our REIT taxable income, financial condition, maintenance of REIT status, and other factors that the board of directors may deem relevant from time to time. The holders of our common stock share proportionally on a per share basis in all declared dividends on our common stock. Dividends cannot be paid on our common stock unless we have paid full cumulative dividends on all classes of our preferred stock. We have paid full cumulative dividends on all classes of our preferred stock from the respective dates of issuance through December 31, 2022. We intend to continue to pay quarterly dividends on our common stock and to distribute to our common stockholders as dividends 100% of our REIT taxable income, on an annual basis.

Our stock transfer agent and registrar is Equiniti Trust Company. Requests for information from Equiniti Trust Company can be sent to Equiniti Trust Company, P.O. Box 64856, St. Paul, MN 55164-0856 and their telephone number is 1-800-468-9716.

The following table presents certain information about the Equity Incentive Plans as of December 31, 2022:

The following graph compares a stockholder’s cumulative total return, assuming $100 invested at December 31, 2017, with all reinvestment of dividends, as if such amounts had been invested in: (i) our common stock; (ii) the stocks included in the Standard and Poor’s 500 Stock Index, or S&P 500; and (iii) the stocks included in the Bloomberg REIT Mortgage Index.

Our preferred share repurchase program allows for the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 5,000,000 shares of the company’s preferred stock, which includes the 8.125% Series A Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, 7.625% Series B Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock and 7.25% Series C Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock. Preferred shares may be repurchased from time to time through privately negotiated transactions or open market transactions, pursuant to trading plans in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, or by any combination of such methods. The manner, price, number and timing of preferred share repurchases are subject to a variety of factors, including market conditions and applicable SEC rules. The preferred share repurchase program does not require the purchase of any minimum number of shares, and, subject to SEC rules, purchases may be commenced or suspended at any time without prior notice. The preferred share repurchase program does not have an expiration date.

The following table reflects purchases of our 8.125% Series A Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, 7.625% Series B Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock and 7.25% Series C Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock under the preferred share repurchase program during the three months ended December 31, 2022:

Our common share repurchase program allows for the repurchase of up to an aggregate of 9,375,000 shares of the company’s common stock. Common shares may be repurchased from time to time through privately negotiated transactions or open market transactions, pursuant to a trading plan in accordance with Rules 10b5-1 and 10b-18 under the Exchange Act or by any combination of such methods. The manner, price, number and timing of common share repurchases are subject to a variety of factors, including market conditions and applicable SEC rules. The common share repurchase program does not require the purchase of any minimum number of shares, and, subject to SEC rules, purchases may be commenced or suspended at any time without prior notice. The common share repurchase program does not have an expiration date. As of December 31, 2022, we had repurchased 3,043,575 common shares under the program for a total cost of $201.5 million. We did not repurchase common shares during the three months ended December 31, 2022.

We are a Maryland corporation focused on investing in and managing Agency residential mortgage-backed securities, or Agency RMBS, mortgage servicing rights, or MSR, and other financial assets, which we collectively refer to as our target assets. We operate as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, as defined under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code.

Our objective is to provide attractive risk-adjusted total return to our stockholders over the long term, primarily through dividends and secondarily through capital appreciation. We acquire and manage an investment portfolio of our target assets, which include the following:

Our Agency RMBS portfolio is comprised primarily of fixed rate mortgage-backed securities backed by single-family and multi-family mortgage loans. All of our principal and interest Agency RMBS are Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgage pass-through certificates or collateralized mortgage obligations, or Ginnie Mae mortgage pass-through certificates, which are backed by the guarantee of the U.S. government. The majority of these securities consist of whole pools in which we own all of the investment interests in the securities.

Within our MSR business, we acquire MSR assets, which represent the right to control the servicing of residential mortgage loans and the obligation to service the loans in accordance with relevant standards, from high-quality originators. We do not directly service the mortgage loans underlying the MSR we acquire; rather, we contract with appropriately licensed third-party subservicers to handle substantially all servicing functions in the name of the subservicer. As the servicer of record, however, we remain accountable to the GSEs for all servicing matters and, accordingly, provide substantial oversight of each of our subservicers. We believe MSR are a natural fit for our portfolio over the long term. Our MSR business leverages our core competencies in prepayment and credit risk analytics and the MSR assets provide offsetting risks to our Agency RMBS, hedging both interest rate and mortgage spread risk.

On August 2, 2022, Matrix Financial Services Corporation, or Matrix, one of our wholly owned subsidiaries, entered into a definitive stock purchase agreement to acquire RoundPoint Mortgage Servicing Corporation, or RoundPoint, from Freedom Mortgage Corporation. In connection with the acquisition, Matrix has agreed to pay a purchase price upon closing in an amount equal to the tangible net book value of RoundPoint, plus a premium amount of $10.5 million, subject to certain additional post-closing adjustments. In connection with the transaction, RoundPoint will divest its retail origination business as well as its RPX servicing exchange platform. Matrix also agreed to engage RoundPoint as a subservicer prior to the closing date and began transferring loans to RoundPoint in the fourth quarter of 2022. Upon closing, all servicing licenses and operational capabilities will remain with RoundPoint, and RoundPoint will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Matrix. The parties expect to close the transaction in 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and the receipt of required regulatory and GSE approvals.

For the three months ended December 31, 2022, our net spread realized on the portfolio was lower than recent quarters due primarily to higher cost of financing due to rising interest rates, offset by higher coupon and lower amortization on Agency RMBS due to slower prepayment speeds and the higher yielding MSR making up a larger proportion of the portfolio. The following table provides the average portfolio yield and cost of financing on our assets for the three months ended December 31, 2022, and the four immediately preceding quarters:

We seek to deploy moderate leverage as part of our investment strategy. We generally finance our Agency RMBS through short- and long-term borrowings structured as repurchase agreements. We also finance our MSR through revolving credit facilities, repurchase agreements, term notes payable and convertible senior notes.

We recognize that investing in our target assets is competitive and we compete with other entities for attractive investment opportunities. We believe that our significant focus in the residential market, the extensive mortgage market expertise of our investment team, our operational capabilities to invest in MSR, our strong analytics and our disciplined relative value investment approach give us a competitive advantage versus our peers.

We have elected to be treated as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. To qualify as a REIT we are required to meet certain investment and operating tests and annual distribution requirements. We generally will not be subject to U.S. federal income taxes on our taxable income to the extent that we annually distribute all of our net taxable income to stockholders, do not participate in prohibited transactions and maintain our intended qualification as a REIT. However, certain activities that we may perform may cause us to earn income which will not be qualifying income for REIT purposes. We have designated certain of our subsidiaries as taxable REIT subsidiaries, or TRSs, as defined in the Code, to engage in such activities. We also operate our business in a manner that will permit us to maintain our exemption from registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the 1940 Act. While we do not currently originate or directly service residential mortgage loans, certain of our subsidiaries have obtained the requisite licenses and approvals to own and manage MSR.

Our net interest income includes income from our securities portfolio, including the amortization of purchase premiums and accretion of purchase discounts. Net interest income, as well as our servicing income, net of subservicing expenses, will fluctuate primarily as a result of changes in market interest rates, our financing costs and prepayment speeds on our assets. Interest rates, financing costs and prepayment rates vary according to the type of investment, conditions in the financial markets, competition and other factors, none of which can be predicted with any certainty.

We have numerous internal controls in place to help ensure the appropriateness of fair value measurements. Significant fair value measures are subject to detailed analytics and management review and approval. Our entire investment portfolio reported at fair value is priced by third-party brokers and/or by independent pricing vendors. We generally receive three or more broker and vendor quotes on pass-through Agency P&I RMBS, and generally receive multiple broker or vendor quotes on all other securities, including interest-only Agency RMBS and inverse interest-only Agency RMBS. We also receive multiple vendor quotes for the MSR in our investment portfolio. For Agency RMBS, the third-party pricing vendors and brokers use pricing models that commonly incorporate such factors as coupons, primary and secondary mortgage rates, rate reset periods, issuer, prepayment speeds, credit enhancements and expected life of the security. For MSR, vendors use pricing models that generally incorporate observable inputs such as principal balance, note rate, geographical location, loan-to-value (LTV) ratios, FICO, appraised value and other loan characteristics, along with observed market yields and trading levels. Pricing vendors will customarily incorporate loan servicing cost, servicing fee, ancillary income, and earnings rate on escrow as observable inputs. Unobservable or model-driven inputs include forecast cumulative defaults, default curve, forecast loss severity and forecast voluntary prepayment.

We evaluate the prices we receive from both third-party brokers and pricing vendors by comparing those prices to actual purchase and sale transactions, our internally modeled prices calculated based on market observable rates and credit spreads, and to each other both in current and prior periods. We review and may challenge valuations from third-party brokers and pricing vendors to ensure that such quotes and valuations are indicative of fair value as a result of this analysis. We then estimate the fair value of each security based upon the median of the final broker quotes received, and we estimate the fair value of MSR based upon the average of prices received from third-party vendors, subject to internally-established hierarchy and override procedures.

We utilize “bid side” pricing for our Agency RMBS and, as a result, certain assets, especially the most recent purchases, may realize a markdown due to the “bid-offer” spread. To the extent that this occurs, any economic effect of this would be reflected in accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income.

Considerable judgment is used in forming conclusions and estimating inputs to our Level 3 fair value measurements. Level 3 inputs such as interest rate movements, prepayments speeds, credit losses and discount rates are inherently difficult to estimate. Changes to these inputs can have a significant effect on fair value measurements. Accordingly, there is no assurance that our estimates of fair value are indicative of the amounts that would be realized on the ultimate sale or exchange of these assets. At December 31, 2022, 23.1% of our total assets were classified as Level 3 fair value assets.

The preparation of financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP requires us to make certain judgments and assumptions, based on information available at the time of our preparation of the financial statements, in determining accounting estimates used in preparation of the statements. Accounting estimates are considered critical if the estimate requires us to make assumptions about matters that were highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimate was made and if different estimates reasonably could have been used in the reporting period or changes in the accounting estimate are reasonably likely to occur from period to period that would have a material impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, included under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Our most critical accounting policies involve our fair valuation of AFS securities, MSR and derivative instruments.

The methods used by us to estimate fair value for AFS securities, MSR and derivative instruments may produce a fair value calculation that may not be indicative of net realizable value or reflective of future fair values. Furthermore, while we believe that our valuation methods are appropriate and consistent with other market participants, the use of different methodologies, or assumptions, to determine the fair value of certain financial instruments could result in a different estimate of fair value at the reporting date. We use prices obtained from third-party pricing vendors or broker quotes deemed indicative of market activity and current as of the measurement date, which in periods of market dislocation, may have reduced transparency. For more information on our fair value measurements, see Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements, included under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Additionally, the key economic assumptions and sensitivity of the fair value of MSR to immediate adverse changes in these assumptions are presented in Note 5 to the consolidated financial statements, included under Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Fixed-income volatility remained high throughout the fourth quarter of 2022, and the Federal Reserve, or Fed, continued to raise short-term rates to combat inflation, despite lower than expected inflation readings that provided some evidence that inflation was easing in response to prior rate hikes. During the quarter, the Fed raised the Federal Funds target rate by 150 basis points (75 basis points in each of November and December), in excess of the 116 basis points priced into the market at the beginning of the quarter. By December 31, 2022, the market’s expectation for where short-term rates will be once the Fed finishes hiking rose by 43 basis points, to 4.97% in June 2023. Though the Fed raised rates more than expected and the market’s expectations for forward rates continued to move higher, the deviations were smaller than in the prior quarter, indicating that market expectations were more closely aligned with the Fed. Interest rates on U.S. Treasuries rose slightly in the fourth quarter and the yield curve flattened, with the 2-year U.S. Treasury rate increasing by 15 basis points to 4.43% and the 10-year U.S. Treasury rate increasing by 5 basis points to 3.88%. The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index, or the S&P 500, gained about 7% after losing close to 25% through the first three quarters of the year.

Interest rate volatility and mortgage spreads peaked in October, then declined into quarter end. The better than expected CPI data (first reported on November 10th and then on December 13th) encouraged market participants that the Fed’s actions were working and provided greater confidence that further rate hikes, while expected, were nearing an end. Spreads for mortgages ratcheted tighter in November, displacing July as the best month on record for the excess return of the Bloomberg U.S. MBS Index, and contributing to the seventh best quarterly performance in history. Nominal and option-adjusted spreads for current coupon RMBS had tightened by 30 and 37 basis points, respectively, to 128 and 30 basis points. Thirty-year mortgage rates declined by 28 basis points to finish at 6.42%, though still 330 basis points higher for the year, driving the MBS Refinance Index to its lowest level in two decades.

Funding markets for RMBS and MSR continued to function well. Spreads on repurchase agreement financing for RMBS increased marginally to SOFR plus 11 to 17 basis points with no signs of balance sheet stress.

We continue to believe that inflation will subside and expect volatility to decline in the first quarter of 2023, given the historically aggressive rate hikes by the Fed. Though mortgage spreads tightened over the quarter, they are still near the 90th percentile of long-term averages, and on a levered basis generate attractive long-term returns. Furthermore, should volatility fall, we expect mortgage spreads to tighten, adding to our portfolio’s returns. With regard to MSR, continued slow prepayment rates on our existing portfolio should generate attractive long-term returns. Owing to a supply/demand imbalance driven by lower origination volumes and the decision of several market participants to step back from the MSR market, we intend to opportunistically allocate capital to acquire MSR at attractive prices in the first half of 2023. Taking all this into account, we are optimistic that our paired Agency RMBS and MSR portfolio strategy will deliver strong results.

The following table provides the carrying value of our investment portfolio by product type:

Our portfolio is subject to market risks, primarily interest rate risk and prepayment risk. We seek to offset a portion of our Agency pool market value exposure through our MSR and interest-only Agency RMBS portfolios. During periods of decreasing interest rates with rising prepayment speeds, the market value of our Agency pools generally increases and the market value of our interest-only securities and MSR generally decreases. The inverse relationship occurs when interest rates rise and prepayments fall. Although 30-year mortgage rates fell modestly during the fourth quarter of 2022, most mortgages continue to have large refinancing disincentive. Reported prepayment speeds continued to decline during the quarter reflecting the drop in activity in the housing market owing to seasonality and a slowing economy. Looking forward, prepayment speeds are expected to slow further in the first quarter of 2023 as seasonal factors plunge to their lowest annual levels. In addition to changes in interest rates, changes in home price performance, key employment metrics and government programs, among other macroeconomic factors, can affect prepayment speeds. We believe our portfolio management approach, including our asset selection process, positions us to respond to a variety of market scenarios. Although we are unable to predict future interest rate movements, our strategy of pairing Agency RMBS with MSR, with a focus on managing various associated risks, including interest rate, prepayment, credit, mortgage spread and financing risk, is intended to generate attractive yields with a low level of sensitivity to changes in the yield curve, prepayments and interest rate cycles.

The following table provides the three-month average constant prepayment rate, or CPR, experienced by our Agency RMBS and MSR during the three months ended December 31, 2022, and the four immediately preceding quarters:

Our Agency RMBS are primarily collateralized by pools of fixed-rate mortgage loans. Our Agency portfolio also includes securities with implicit prepayment protection, including lower loan balances (securities collateralized by loans of less than $200,000 in initial principal balance), higher LTVs (securities collateralized by loans with LTVs greater than or equal to 80%), certain geographic concentrations, loans secured by investor-owned properties and lower FICO scores. Our overall allocation of Agency RMBS and holdings of pools with specific characteristics are viewed in the context of our aggregate portfolio strategy, including MSR and related derivative hedging instruments. Additionally, the selection of securities with certain attributes is driven by the perceived relative value of the securities, which factors in the opportunities in the marketplace, the cost of financing and the cost of hedging interest rate, prepayment, credit and other portfolio risks. As a result, Agency RMBS capital allocation reflects management’s flexible approach to investing in the marketplace.

The following tables provide the carrying value of our Agency RMBS portfolio by underlying mortgage loan rate type:

Our MSR business offers attractive spreads and has many risk reducing characteristics when paired with our Agency RMBS portfolio. The following table summarizes activity related to the unpaid principal balance, or UPB, of loans underlying our MSR portfolio for the three months ended December 31, 2022, and the four immediately preceding quarters:

We monitor counterparty exposure amongst our broker, banking and lending counterparties on a daily basis. We believe our broker and banking counterparties are well-capitalized organizations, and we attempt to manage our cash balances across these organizations to reduce our exposure to any single counterparty.

As of December 31, 2022, we had entered into repurchase agreements with 39 counterparties, 20 of which had outstanding balances. In addition, we held short- and long-term borrowings under revolving credit facilities, long-term term notes payable and long-term unsecured convertible senior notes. As of December 31, 2022, the debt-to-equity ratio funding our AFS securities, MSR and Agency Derivatives, which includes unsecured borrowings under convertible senior notes, was 4.4:1.0.

As of December 31, 2022, we held $683.5 million in cash and cash equivalents, approximately $344.6 million of unpledged AFS securities and Agency derivatives, which includes $343.0 million of unsettled Agency RMBS purchases, and $7.6 million of unpledged non-Agency securities. As a result, we had an overall estimated unused borrowing capacity on our unpledged securities of approximately $6.1 million. As of December 31, 2022, we held approximately $26.9 million of unpledged MSR and $51.2 million of unpledged servicing advances. Overall, on December 31, 2022, we had $293.8 million unused committed and $402.3 million unused uncommitted borrowing capacity on MSR financing facilities, and $176.2 million in unused committed borrowing capacity on servicing advance financing facilities. Generally, unused borrowing capacity may be the result of our election not to utilize certain financing, as well as delays in the timing in which funding is provided, insufficient collateral or the inability to meet lenders’ eligibility requirements for specific types of asset classes.

We also monitor exposure to our MSR counterparties. We may be required to make representations and warranties to investors in the loans underlying the MSR we own; however, some of our MSR were purchased on a bifurcated basis, meaning the representation and warranty obligations remain with the seller. If the representations and warranties we make prove to be inaccurate, we may be obligated to repurchase certain mortgage loans, which may impact the profitability of our portfolio. Although we obtain similar representations and warranties from the counterparty from which we acquired the relevant asset, if those representations and warranties do not directly mirror those we make to the investor, or if we are unable to enforce the representations and warranties against the counterparty for a variety of reasons, including the financial condition or insolvency of the counterparty, we may not be able to seek indemnification from our counterparties for any losses attributable to the breach.

The London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR, has been used extensively in the U.S. and globally as a “benchmark” or “reference rate” for various commercial and financial contracts, including corporate and municipal bonds and loans, floating rate mortgages, asset-backed securities, consumer loans, and interest rate swaps and other derivatives. On March 5, 2021, Intercontinental Exchange Inc. announced that ICE Benchmark Administration Limited, the administrator of LIBOR, intends to stop publication of the majority of USD-LIBOR tenors on June 30, 2023. In the U.S., the Alternative Reference Rates Committee, or ARRC, has identified the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, or SOFR, as its preferred alternative rate for U.S. dollar-based LIBOR. SOFR is a measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight, collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities, and is based on directly observable U.S. Treasury-backed repurchase transactions. Numerous industry wide and company-specific transitions as it relates to derivatives and cash markets exposed to LIBOR are in process, if not complete. The majority of our material contracts that are or were indexed to USD-LIBOR have been amended to transition to an alternative benchmark, where necessary. As of December 31, 2022, only the Company’s term notes incorporate LIBOR as the referenced rate and mature after the phase-out of LIBOR. However, the related agreements have provisions in place that provide for an alternative to LIBOR upon its phase-out. The Company has no other financing arrangements or derivative instruments that incorporate LIBOR as the referenced rate as of December 31, 2022. Additionally, each series of our fixed-to-floating preferred stock that becomes redeemable at the time the stock begins to pay a LIBOR-based rate has existing LIBOR cessation fallback language.

All per share amounts, common shares outstanding and common equity-based awards for all periods presented have been adjusted on a retroactive basis to reflect the reverse stock split.

Our book value per common share for U.S. GAAP purposes was $17.72 at December 31, 2022, an increase from $16.42 per common share at September 30, 2022, and a decrease from $23.47 per common share at December 31, 2021. The rise in book value for the three months ended December 31, 2022 was primarily the result of mortgage spread tightening, as well as the repurchase of 2,957,950 shares of preferred stock, which contributed approximately $0.26 to book value per common share. The decline in book value for the year ended December 31, 2022 was primarily the result of significant widening in mortgage spreads during the first nine months of the year, as the market reacted unfavorably to higher than expected inflation and aggressively hawkish words and actions from the Fed as it removed accommodation, offset by the positive fourth quarter developments noted above.

Our GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders was $262.4 million and GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders was $186.8 million ($(3.04) and $2.13 per diluted weighted average share) for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, respectively, as compared to GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders of $15.0 million and GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders of $128.8 million ($(0.18) and $1.72 per diluted weighted average share) for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, respectively.

With our accounting treatment for AFS securities, unrealized fluctuations in the market values of AFS securities, excluding certain AFS securities for which we have elected the fair value option and securities with an allowance for credit losses, do not impact our GAAP net income (loss) or taxable income but are recognized on our consolidated balance sheets as a change in stockholders’ equity under “accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income.” For the three months ended December 31, 2022, net unrealized gains on AFS securities recognized as other comprehensive income were $106.7 million, which was the result of mortgage spread tightening. For the year ended December 31, 2022, net unrealized losses on AFS securities recognized as other comprehensive loss were $893.6 million, which was driven by significant underperformance of fixed income markets in general and widening mortgage spreads, particularly in the third quarter. Additionally, we reclassify unrealized gains and losses on AFS securities in accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income to net income (loss) upon the recognition of any realized gains and losses on sales as individual securities are sold. For the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 we reclassified $316.0 million and $428.5 million in unrealized losses, respectively, on sold AFS securities from accumulated other comprehensive (loss) income to (loss) gain on investment securities on the consolidated statements of comprehensive loss.

In total, we recognized other comprehensive income of $422.7 million for the three months ended December 31, 2022 and other comprehensive loss of $465.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. Combined with GAAP net loss attributable to common stockholders of $262.4 million and GAAP net income attributable to common stockholders of $186.8 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, respectively, this resulted in comprehensive income attributable to common stockholders of $160.2 million and comprehensive loss attributable to common stockholders of $278.3 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, respectively.

The following tables present the components of our comprehensive loss for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

The following analysis focuses on financial results during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021. The analysis of our financial results during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 is omitted from this Form 10-K and included in Part II Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, which analysis is incorporated by reference.

Interest income increased from $33.0 million and $168.6 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, respectively, to $99.3 million and $295.5 million for the same periods in 2022 due to lower amortization recognized on Agency RMBS due to slower prepayments, higher interest on cash balances as a result of the higher interest rate environment and increased use of reverse repurchase agreements. Also contributing to the increase for the three months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same period in 2021, was an increase in average AFS securities average amortized cost held due to net purchases. However, for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same period in 2021, the increase was offset by a decrease in average AFS securities average amortized cost held due to net sales.

Interest expense increased from $20.2 million and $89.2 million for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, respectively, to $115.6 million and $258.4 million for the same periods in 2022 due primarily to the higher interest rate environment as well as an increase in financing on MSR and Agency RMBS.

The following tables present the components of interest income and average net asset yield earned by asset type, the components of interest expense and average cost of funds on borrowings incurred by collateral type, and net interest income and average net interest spread for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

The increase in yields on AFS securities for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same periods in 2021 was primarily driven by lower amortization as a result of slower prepayment speeds. The increase in cost of funds associated with the financing of AFS securities for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same periods in 2021, was due to rising interest rates.

The increase in yields on reverse repurchase agreements for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same periods in 2021, was the result of rising interest rates. However, these yields were offset by the cost of financing the associated repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022. We did not hold any repurchase agreements collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021.

The increase in cost of funds associated with the financing of Agency Derivatives for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same periods in 2021, was the result of rising interest rates.

The increase in cost of funds associated with the financing of MSR assets and related servicing advance obligations for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same periods in 2021, was due to rising interest rates and an increase in the use of revolving credit facility and repurchase agreement financing which on average carry higher floating rate spreads than term notes. We have one revolving credit facility in place to finance our servicing advance obligations, which are included in other assets on our consolidated balance sheets.

The cost of funds associated with our convertible senior notes for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the same periods in 2021, was consistent.

The following tables present the components of the yield earned on our AFS securities portfolio as a percentage of our average amortized cost of securities for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

The following table presents the components of (loss) gain on investment securities for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021:

In the ordinary course of our business, we make investment decisions and allocate capital in accordance with our views on the changing risk/reward dynamics in the market and in our portfolio. We do not expect to sell assets on a frequent basis, but may sell assets to reallocate capital into new assets that we believe have higher risk-adjusted returns.

We use a discounted cash flow method to estimate and recognize an allowance for credit losses on AFS securities. Subsequent adverse or favorable changes in expected cash flows are recognized immediately in earnings as a provision for or reversal of provision for credit losses (within (loss) gain on investment securities).

The majority of the “other” component of (loss) gain on investment securities is related to changes in unrealized gains (losses) on certain AFS securities for which we have elected the fair value option. Fluctuations in this line item are primarily driven by the reclassification of unrealized gains and losses to realized gains and losses upon sale, as well as changes in fair value assumptions.

The following table presents the components of servicing income for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022 and 2021: