ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT INC (NLY) FY 2023 MD&A

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
All references to “Annaly,” “we,” “us,” or “our” mean Annaly Capital Management, Inc. and all entities owned by us, except where it is made clear that the term means only the parent company.  Refer to the section titled “Glossary of Terms” located at the end of this Item 7 for definitions of commonly used terms in this annual report on Form 10-K.

This section of our Form 10-K generally discusses 2023 and 2022 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2023 and 2022. Discussions of 2021 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2022 and 2021 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in Part II, Item 7. “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022.

47

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

48

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Overview

We are a leading diversified capital manager with investment strategies across mortgage finance. Our principal business objective is to generate net income for distribution to our stockholders and optimize our returns through prudent management of our diversified investment strategies. We are an internally-managed Maryland corporation founded in 1997 that has elected to be taxed as a REIT. Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “NLY.”

We use our capital coupled with borrowed funds to invest primarily in real estate related investments, earning the spread between the yield on our assets and the cost of our borrowings and hedging activities.

For a full discussion of our business, refer to the section titled “Business Overview” of Part I, Item 1. “Business.”

Reverse Stock Split

On September 8, 2022, we announced that our Board had unanimously approved a reverse stock split of our common stock at a ratio of 1-for-4 (the “Reverse Stock Split”). The Reverse Stock Split was effective following the close of business on September 23, 2022 (the “Effective Time”). Accordingly, at the Effective Time, every four issued and outstanding shares of our common stock were converted into one share of our common stock. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the Reverse Stock Split. Instead, each stockholder that would have held fractional shares as a result of the Reverse Stock Split received cash in lieu of such fractional shares. The par value per share of our common stock remained unchanged at $0.01 per share after the Reverse Stock Split. Accordingly, for all historical periods presented, an amount equal to the par value of the reduced number of shares resulting from the Reverse Stock Split was reclassified from Common stock to Additional paid in capital in our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition. All references made to share or per share amounts in the accompanying consolidated financial statements and disclosures have been retroactively adjusted, where applicable, to reflect the effects of the Reverse Stock Split.

Business Environment

Financial markets saw meaningful volatility in 2023, marking a second consecutive year in which fixed income markets were more broadly impacted by elevated uncertainty around the outlook for the economy and the macroeconomic landscape. The volatility was driven by a combination of factors, including bank earnings and liquidity pressures that emerged in March 2023 following the sudden failure of Silicon Valley Bank. Fears over the health of the broader banking system ultimately proved disproportionate, evidenced by a normalization in interest rates as the economy remained robust. However, interest rates then rose sharply between August and October with the ten-year Treasury note reaching the 5% yield mark as market participants appeared increasingly concerned about the outlook for the fiscal trajectory. The total deficit reached $1.78 trillion for the full calendar year, representing another year of large fiscal deficits despite healthy economic growth.

The broader economy continued to expand, labor markets remained robust and inflation moderated throughout the year. While many observers had expected the economy to enter into a recession in 2023, data thus far has suggested that inflation moderated without a meaningful deterioration in economic activity, setting up a scenario in which parts of the economy moved into better balances without a sharp contraction in economic output or a significantly weaker labor market (a so-called “soft landing”). The increased likelihood of a soft landing appears to have been driven by numerous factors, including fewer price pressures on the supply side of the economy as shipping of goods normalized following earlier disruptions from the pandemic and the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. In addition, U.S. consumers continue to find employment and enjoy healthy balance sheets, while growing wages afford them the ability to continue to spend on goods and services, thereby supporting broader economic growth. Private sector investment activity rebounded somewhat in 2023 relative to 2022, while government spending and investment incentives created by federal legislation supported economic growth as well.

Following the rapid tightening in monetary policy in 2022, the Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) raised interest rates an additional one percentage point in 2023 and ultimately kept the Federal Funds Target Rate at 5.25% – 5.50% since late July. Meanwhile, the Fed maintained the pace it set in 2022 in the reduction of its balance sheet throughout the year, effectively letting up to $60 billion in Treasury and up to $35 billion in Agency MBS runoff per month in 2023. Driven by the continued maturities, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet declined by $838 billion to $7.7 trillion over the course of the year.

In this environment, home prices outperformed the market’s expectations despite mortgage rates reaching 20-year highs, resulting in historically low affordability for prospective homeowners. Home prices have continued to benefit from existing homeowners’ inability to move homes absent a meaningful increase in housing costs (the so called “lock in effect”), resulting in low availability of inventory for sale as borrowers locked into below-market mortgage rates are less willing to move or trade up. Housing activity remains depressed, although we have seen modest signs of an uptick in demand following the recent decline in mortgage rates. Ultimately, we are constructive on the housing market outlook should the labor market and consumers remain resilient in line with a “soft landing” economic scenario.

49

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Over the course of the year, we generated a +6.0% economic return, which demonstrates the efficacy of our diversified housing finance model, as well as our disciplined portfolio and risk management. In light of the volatile environment, we continued to proactively manage our leverage profile throughout the year, in turn reducing our economic leverage from 6.3x at the end of the 2022 to 5.7x at the end of 2023. A part of the reduced leverage is driven by further diversification into our Residential Credit and MSR businesses, which are less levered than Agency MBS. Of note, the combined capital allocation to the two businesses increased by five percentage points to 38% at the end of 2023.

Turning to the Agency MBS portfolio, our aggregate portfolio declined modestly, falling from $72.9 billion in assets at the end of 2022 to $65.7 billion at the end of 2023. The lower portfolio balance is largely driven by asset sales throughout the year to accommodate the shift in capital allocation, as well as a somewhat lower leverage in the strategy as interest rate markets and mortgage spreads remained very volatile throughout most of the year. In addition to somewhat lower aggregate holdings, we focused on shifting the coupon distribution higher throughout the year, bringing the share of 5.0% coupons or higher to 48%, up 17 percentage points from the 2022 year-end levels. In addition, we rotated out of “to be announced” (“TBA”) security holdings, in turn reducing our holdings from $10.6 billion at the end of 2022 to ($0.6) billion at the end of 2023. This reduction was driven by the combination of reduced advantageous financing of TBA securities relative to specified pool ownership and the desire to add prepayment protection in higher coupon purchases. Finally, given attractive relative value opportunities with respect to Agency MBS, we increased our portfolio of Agency CMBS to $3.5 billion market value, as the asset class offered an attractive stable cash flow in volatile interest rate markets.

The residential credit sector benefited from the strong economic environment and the resilience of the housing market, enabling us to continue to achieve progress in building out the business. Our Residential Credit portfolio ended the year at $5.7 billion market value, having grown 14% year over year, and representing 20% of the firm’s capital. The business growth continued to be driven by our residential whole loan acquisition strategy, through which our Residential Credit business acquired $4.7 billion in loans, with a vast majority coming through our correspondent channel, which allows us to control all aspects of the loan making process, including asset selection, counterparties and loss mitigation.

Finally, we also continued to grow our MSR portfolio, further increasing assets through purchases predominantly of low-coupon bulk MSR packages, in turn growing the portfolio by 50% throughout 2023, to $2.7 billion market value. Similar to 2022, bulk trading activity of MSR packages remained at historically elevated levels as mortgage originators looked to monetize MSR holdings to offset low profit margins in their mortgage origination businesses. Meanwhile, demand for MSR also remained strong, as a broad investor base sought MSR as purely financial investments or to acquire escrow deposits and customers that can later be refinanced. We opportunistically bought MSR packages as a strategic partner to originators given our complementary business strategy as a financial investor. Our MSR portfolio continued to consist predominantly of low coupon, high quality conventional MSR, which at the weighted average coupon of 3.06% at the end of 2023, remained far from having a refinancing incentive considering prevailing mortgage rates.

Economic leverage is a non-GAAP financial measure. Refer to the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section for additional information, including reconciliations to its most directly comparable GAAP results.

Economic Environment

U.S. real economic growth accelerated in 2023, with U.S. gross domestic product (“GDP”) rising 2.5% on a year-over-year basis, above the 1.9% recorded for 2022. Economic activity continued to strengthen throughout the year, led by sizeable increases in consumption. Consumer balance sheets remained healthy and benefited from further income growth, leading retail sales data to notably increase in the fourth quarter. Increased government spending spread across state, local and federal levels, as well as higher exports, also boosted the GDP. Meanwhile, fixed business investment was more muted throughout the year, while residential housing started to move sideways and home sales continued to fall in light of higher mortgage rates. Heading into 2024, recession risks appear relatively low given the upbeat picture of consumer and business spending, although the impact of the Fed’s monetary policy tightening continues to flow through to the real economy and credit conditions have tightened.

Meanwhile, the supply and demand for labor moved into better balance by the end of 2023. The unemployment rate ended the year at 3.7%, increasing 0.2 percentage points from the historic low of 3.5% reported in December 2022. Total nonfarm payroll employment expanded at a slower pace in 2023, totaling 3.1 million added jobs, relative to 4.5 million added jobs seen in 2022. Strong job creation was accompanied by an increase in the supply of workers, as the labor force participation rate increased gradually throughout the year and the employment-to-population ratio rose slightly. At the same time, job openings trended lower, although they remained elevated relative to pre-pandemic averages. As a result of the more balanced labor market, wage growth slowed as the Employment Cost Index wages rose 4.3% over the 12 months ending in December, well below the 5.1% shown by the same metric a year earlier.

50

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Price pressures remained at elevated levels throughout the year although they have shown notable signs of progress toward the Fed’s 2% target. The headline Personal Consumption Expenditure Chain Price Index (“PCE”), the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, measured 2.6% in December 2023, after peaking at 7.0% on a year-over-year basis in June 2022. The core measure, which does not include price changes in food and energy sectors, measured 2.9% year-over year, the first time that the core PCE has been below 3.0% on a year-over-year basis since March 2021. Additionally, recent survey measures of short-run inflation expectations have declined meaningfully and longer-term inflation expectations appear well anchored. The disinflationary pressures are mostly attributed to lower goods prices, while the service sector remains elevated, particularly in measures such as shelter inflation.

The Fed conducts monetary policy with a dual mandate: full employment and price stability. Given the easing of inflation pressures, the Fed slowed its tightening campaign at the beginning of 2023 and remained on pause in the second half of the year. The target range for the Federal Funds rate increased 100 basis points from 4.25% - 4.50% in December 2022 to 5.25% - 5.50% by the end of 2023. At the December meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (“FOMC”), Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stated that the policy rate is at or near its peak in the Fed’s tightening cycle and signaled an potentially easier monetary policy over the course of 2024. Regarding the FOMC’s balance sheet policy, the decline in their securities portfolio, which started in 2022, continued uninterrupted throughout all of 2023. The amount of quantitative tightening – the process in which the Federal Reserve lets securities in its portfolio mature, thereby lowering bank reserves and other liquidity in the financial system – continues at $95 billion per month across U.S. Treasuries and Agency MBS, almost twice the runoff rate of the prior quantitative tightening period between 2017 and 2019.

During 2023, U.S. Treasury rates were volatile as market participants adjusted expectations for economic conditions and monetary policy. Despite the volatility, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note ended the year effectively unchanged at 3.88%. The 10-year Treasury Inflation Protected Security (“TIPS”), which subtracts the expected inflation rate from the bond’s nominal yield, fell 13 basis points, as market participants have started to price in an easing cycle for the Fed. Meanwhile, the mortgage basis, or the spread between the 30-year Agency MBS coupon and 10-year U.S. Treasury rate, tightened slightly, ending the year 12 basis points tighter than December 2022.

The following table below presents interest rates and spreads at each date presented:

London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) Transition

All LIBOR tenors relevant to us either are no longer published or are no longer representative. All of our LIBOR-linked instruments have fallen back to a non-LIBOR-based index, either by their contractual terms, pursuant to U.S. federal legislation, through clearinghouse action, or otherwise.

Results of Operations

The results of our operations are affected by various factors, many of which are beyond our control. Certain of such risks and uncertainties are described herein (see “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” above) and in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors”.

This Management Discussion and Analysis section contains analysis and discussion of financial results computed in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) and non-GAAP measurements. To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we provide non-GAAP financial measures to enhance investor understanding of our period-over-period operating performance and business trends, as well as for assessing our performance versus that of industry peers.

Refer to the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section for additional information.

51

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Net Income (Loss) Summary

The following table presents financial information related to our results of operations as of and for the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021.

GAAP

Net income (loss) was ($1.6) billion, which includes $4.7 million attributable to noncontrolling interests, or $(3.61) per average basic common share, for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $1.7 billion, which includes $1.1 million attributable to noncontrolling interests, or $3.93 per average basic common share, for the same period in 2022. We attribute the majority of the change in net income (loss) to an unfavorable change in net gains (losses) on derivatives and net interest income, partially offset by favorable changes in net gains (losses) on investments and other, higher net servicing income, higher other, net and lower business divestiture-related losses. Net gains (losses) on derivatives for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $0.4 billion compared to $4.9 billion for the same period in 2022. Net interest income for the year ended December 31, 2023 was ($111.4) million compared to $1.5 billion for the same period in 2022. Net gains (losses) on investments and other for the year ended December 31, 2023 was ($2.1) billion compared to ($4.6) billion for the same period in 2022. Net servicing income for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $326.5 million compared to $221.8 million for the same period in 2022. Other, net for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $73.7 million compared to $6.7 million for the same period in 2022. Business divestiture-related gains (losses) for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $0.0 million compared to ($40.3) million for the same period in 2022. Refer to the section titled “Other income (loss)” located within this Item 7 for additional information related to these changes.

Non-GAAP

Earnings available for distribution were $1.6 billion, or $2.86 per average common share, for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $1.9 billion, or $4.23 per average common share, for the same period in 2022. The change in earnings available for distribution for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 was primarily due to an higher interest expense from an increase in average borrowing rates and average interest bearing balances, a decline in TBA dollar roll income on reduced specialness partially offset by a favorable change in the net interest component of interest rate swaps, higher coupon income and lower premium amortization expense, excluding PAA, resulting from an increase in interest rates, purchasing assets with lower cost bases, and lower prepayment speeds, combined with higher servicing income and other, net.

52

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP, we provide the following non-GAAP financial measures:

•earnings available for distribution (“EAD”);

•earnings available for distribution attributable to common stockholders;

•earnings available for distribution per average common share;

•annualized EAD return on average equity;

•economic leverage;

•economic capital ratio;

•interest income (excluding PAA);

•economic interest expense;

•economic net interest income (excluding PAA);

•average yield on interest earning assets (excluding PAA);

•average economic cost of interest bearing liabilities;

•net interest margin (excluding PAA); and

•net interest spread (excluding PAA).

These measures should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, financial measures computed in accordance with GAAP. While intended to offer a fuller understanding of our results and operations, non-GAAP financial measures also have limitations. For example, we may calculate our non-GAAP metrics, such as earnings available for distribution, or the PAA, differently than our peers making comparative analysis difficult. Additionally, in the case of non-GAAP measures that exclude the PAA, the amount of amortization expense excluding the PAA is not necessarily representative of the amount of future periodic amortization nor is it indicative of the term over which we will amortize the remaining unamortized premium. Changes to actual and estimated prepayments will impact the timing and amount of premium amortization and, as such, both GAAP and non-GAAP results.

These non-GAAP measures provide additional detail to enhance investor understanding of our period-over-period operating performance and business trends, as well as for assessing our performance versus that of industry peers. Additional information pertaining to our use of these non-GAAP financial measures, including discussion of how each such measure may be useful to investors, and reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP results are provided below.

Earnings Available for Distribution, Earnings Available for Distribution Attributable to Common Stockholders, Earnings Available for Distribution Per Average Common Share and Annualized EAD Return on Average Equity

Our principal business objective is to generate net income for distribution to our stockholders and optimize our returns through prudent management of our diversified investment strategies. We generate net income by earning a net interest spread on our investment portfolio, which is a function of interest income from our investment portfolio less financing, hedging and operating costs. Earnings available for distribution, which is defined as the sum of (a) economic net interest income, (b) TBA dollar roll income and CMBX coupon income, (c) net servicing income less realized amortization of MSR, (d) other income (loss) (excluding depreciation and amortization expense on real estate and related intangibles, non-EAD income allocated to equity method investments and other non-EAD components of other income (loss)), (e) general and administrative expenses (excluding transaction expenses and non-recurring items), and (f) income taxes (excluding the income tax effect of non-EAD income (loss) items), and excludes (g) the premium amortization adjustment (“PAA”) representing the cumulative impact on prior periods, but not the current period, of quarter-over-quarter changes in estimated long-term prepayment speeds related to our Agency mortgage-backed securities, is used by management and, we believe, used by analysts and investors to measure our progress in achieving our principal business objective.

We seek to fulfill our principal business objective through a variety of factors including portfolio construction, the degree of market risk exposure and related hedge profile, and the use and forms of leverage, all while operating within the parameters of our capital allocation policy and risk governance framework.

We believe these non-GAAP measures provide management and investors with additional details regarding our underlying operating results and investment portfolio trends by (i) making adjustments to account for the disparate reporting of changes in fair value where certain instruments are reflected in GAAP net income (loss) while others are reflected in other comprehensive income (loss), and (ii) by excluding certain unrealized, non-cash or episodic components of GAAP net income (loss) in order to provide additional transparency into the operating performance of our portfolio. In addition, EAD serves as a useful indicator for investors in evaluating our performance and ability to pay dividends. Annualized EAD return on average equity, which is calculated by dividing earnings available for distribution over average stockholders’ equity, provides investors with additional detail on the earnings available for distribution generated by our invested equity capital.

53

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

The following table presents a reconciliation of GAAP financial results to non-GAAP earnings available for distribution for the periods presented:

From time to time, we enter into TBA forward contracts as an alternate means of investing in and financing Agency MBS. A TBA contract is an agreement to purchase or sell, for future delivery, an Agency MBS with a specified issuer, term and coupon. A TBA dollar roll represents a transaction where TBA contracts with the same terms but different settlement dates are simultaneously bought and sold. The TBA contract settling in the later month typically prices at a discount to the earlier month contract with the difference in price commonly referred to as the “drop”. The drop is a reflection of the expected net interest income from an investment in similar Agency MBS, net of an implied financing cost, that would be foregone as a result of settling the contract in the later month rather than in the earlier month. The drop between the current settlement month price and the forward settlement month price occurs because in the TBA dollar roll market, the party providing the financing is the party that would retain all principal and interest payments accrued during the financing period. Accordingly, TBA dollar roll income generally represents the economic equivalent of the net interest income earned on the underlying Agency MBS less an implied financing cost.

TBA dollar roll transactions are accounted for under GAAP as a series of derivatives transactions. The fair value of TBA derivatives is based on methods similar to those used to value Agency MBS. We record TBA derivatives at fair value on our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition and recognize periodic changes in fair value in Net gains (losses) on derivatives in our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss), which includes both unrealized and realized gains and losses on derivatives.

54

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

TBA dollar roll income is calculated as the difference in price between two TBA contracts with the same terms but different settlement dates multiplied by the notional amount of the TBA contract. Although accounted for as derivatives, TBA dollar rolls capture the economic equivalent of net interest income, or carry, on the underlying Agency MBS (interest income less an implied cost of financing). TBA dollar roll income is reported as a component of Net gains (losses) on derivatives in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).

The CMBX index is a synthetic tradable index referencing a basket of 25 commercial mortgage-backed securities of a particular rating and vintage. The CMBX index allows investors to take a long position (referred to as selling protection) or short position (referred to as purchasing protection) on the respective basket of commercial mortgage-backed securities and is structured as a “pay-as-you-go” contract whereby the protection seller receives and the protection buyer pays a standardized running coupon on the contracted notional amount. Additionally, the protection seller is obligated to pay to the protection buyer the amount of principal losses and/or coupon shortfalls on the underlying commercial mortgage-backed securities as they occur. We report income (expense) on CMBX positions in Net gains (losses) on derivatives in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss). The coupon payments received or paid on CMBX positions is equivalent to interest income (expense) and therefore included in earnings available for distribution.

Premium Amortization Expense

In accordance with GAAP, we amortize or accrete premiums or discounts into interest income for our Agency MBS, excluding interest-only securities, multifamily and reverse mortgages, taking into account estimates of future principal prepayments in the calculation of the effective yield. We recalculate the effective yield as differences between anticipated and actual prepayments occur. Using third party models and market information to project future cash flows and expected remaining lives of securities, the effective interest rate determined for each security is applied as if it had been in place from the date of the security’s acquisition. The amortized cost of the security is then adjusted to the amount that would have existed had the new effective yield been applied since the acquisition date. The adjustment to amortized cost is offset with a charge or credit to interest income. Changes in interest rates and other market factors will impact prepayment speed projections and the amount of premium amortization recognized in any given period.

Our GAAP metrics include the unadjusted impact of amortization and accretion associated with this method. Certain of our non-GAAP metrics exclude the effect of the PAA, which quantifies the component of premium amortization representing the cumulative impact on prior periods, but not the current period, of quarter-over-quarter changes in estimated long-term Constant Prepayment Rate (“CPR”).

The following table illustrates the impact of the PAA on premium amortization expense for our Residential Securities portfolio for the periods presented:

Economic Leverage and Economic Capital Ratios

We use capital coupled with borrowed funds to invest primarily in real estate related investments, earning the spread between the yield on our assets and the cost of our borrowings and hedging activities. Our capital structure is designed to offer an efficient complement of funding sources to generate positive risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders while maintaining appropriate liquidity to support our business and meet our financial obligations under periods of market stress. To maintain our desired capital profile, we utilize a mix of debt and equity funding. Debt funding may include the use of repurchase agreements, loans, securitizations, participations issued, lines of credit, asset backed lending facilities, corporate bond issuance, convertible bonds, mortgages payable or other liabilities. Equity capital primarily consists of common and preferred stock.

Our economic leverage ratio is computed as the sum of recourse debt, cost basis of TBA and CMBX derivatives outstanding, and net forward purchases (sales) of investments divided by total equity. Recourse debt consists of repurchase agreements, other secured financing (excluding certain non-recourse credit facilities), and U.S. Treasury securities sold, not yet purchased. Certain credit facilities (included within other secured financing), debt issued by securitization vehicles, and participations issued are non-recourse to us and are excluded from economic leverage.

55

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

The following table presents a reconciliation of GAAP debt to economic debt for purposes of calculating our economic leverage ratio for the periods presented:

The following table presents a reconciliation of GAAP total assets to economic total assets for purposes of calculating our economic capital ratio for the periods presented:

Interest Income (excluding PAA), Economic Interest Expense and Economic Net Interest Income (excluding PAA)

Interest income (excluding PAA) represents interest income excluding the effect of the premium amortization adjustment, and serves as the basis for deriving average yield on interest earning assets (excluding PAA), net interest spread (excluding PAA) and net interest margin (excluding PAA), which are discussed below. We believe this measure provides management and investors with additional detail to enhance their understanding of our operating results and trends by excluding the component of premium amortization expense representing the cumulative effect of quarter-over-quarter changes in estimated long-term prepayment speeds related to our Agency MBS (other than interest-only securities, multifamily and reverse mortgages), which can obscure underlying trends in the performance of the portfolio.

Economic interest expense is comprised of GAAP interest expense and the net interest component of interest rate swaps. We use interest rate swaps to manage our exposure to changing interest rates on repurchase agreements by economically hedging cash flows associated with these borrowings. Accordingly, adding the net interest component of interest rate swaps to interest

56

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

expense, as computed in accordance with GAAP, reflects the total contractual interest expense and thus, provides investors with additional information about the cost of our financing strategy. We may use market agreed coupon (“MAC”) interest rate swaps in which we may receive or make a payment at the time of entering into such interest rate swap to compensate for the off-market nature of such interest rate swap. In accordance with GAAP, upfront payments associated with MAC interest rate swaps are not reflected in the net interest component of interest rate swaps, which is presented in Net gains (losses) on derivatives in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).

Similarly, economic net interest income (excluding PAA), as computed below, provides investors with additional information to enhance their understanding of the net economics of our primary business operations.

The following tables present a reconciliation of GAAP interest income and GAAP interest expense to non-GAAP interest income (excluding PAA), economic interest expense and economic net interest income (excluding PAA), respectively, for the periods presented:

Interest Income (excluding PAA)

Economic Interest Expense and Economic Net Interest Income (excluding PAA)

Experienced and Projected Long-Term CPR

Prepayment speeds, as reflected by the CPR and interest rates vary according to the type of investment, conditions in financial markets, competition and other factors, none of which can be predicted with any certainty. In general, as prepayment speeds and expectations of prepayment speeds on our Agency MBS portfolio increase, related purchase premium amortization increases, thereby reducing the yield on such assets. The following table presents the weighted average experienced CPR and weighted average projected long-term CPR on our Agency MBS portfolio as of and for the periods presented.

Average Yield on Interest Earning Assets (excluding PAA), Net Interest Spread (excluding PAA), Net Interest Margin (excluding PAA) and Average Economic Cost of Interest Bearing Liabilities

Net interest spread (excluding PAA), which is the difference between the average yield on interest earning assets (excluding PAA) and the average economic cost of interest bearing liabilities, which represents annualized economic interest expense divided by average interest bearing liabilities, and net interest margin (excluding PAA), which is calculated as the sum of interest income (excluding PAA) plus TBA dollar roll income and CMBX coupon income less interest expense and the net interest component of interest rate swaps divided by the sum of average interest earning assets plus average TBA contract and

57

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

CMBX balances, provide management with additional measures of our profitability that management relies upon in monitoring the performance of the business.

Disclosure of these measures, which are presented below, provides investors with additional detail regarding how management evaluates our performance.

Net Interest Spread (excluding PAA)

Net Interest Margin (excluding PAA)

Economic Interest Expense and Average Economic Cost of Interest Bearing Liabilities

Typically, our largest expense is the cost of interest bearing liabilities and the net interest component of interest rate swaps. The following table shows our average interest bearing liabilities and average economic cost of interest bearing liabilities as compared to average one-month and average six-month SOFR for the periods presented.

Average Economic Cost of Interest Bearing Liabilities

58

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

2023 Compared with 2022

Economic interest expense increased by $1.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The change was primarily due to higher average interest bearing liabilities from an increase in repurchase agreement balances and higher borrowing rates. This was partially offset by the change in the net interest component of interest rate swaps, which was $1.6 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $366.2 million for the same period in 2022.

We do not manage our portfolio to have a pre-designated amount of borrowings at quarter or year end. Our borrowings at period end are a snapshot of our borrowings as of a date, and this number may differ from average borrowings over the period for a number of reasons. The mortgage-backed securities we own pay principal and interest towards the end of each month and the mortgage-backed securities we purchase are typically settled during the beginning of the month. As a result, depending on the amount of mortgage-backed securities we have committed to purchase, we may retain the principal and interest we receive in the prior month, or we may use it to pay down our borrowings. Moreover, we generally use interest rate swaps, swaptions and other derivative instruments to hedge our portfolio, and as we pledge or receive collateral under these agreements, our borrowings on any given day may be increased or decreased. Our average borrowings during a quarter may differ from period end borrowings as we implement our portfolio management strategies and risk management strategies over changing market conditions by increasing or decreasing leverage. Additionally, these numbers may differ during periods when we conduct equity capital raises, as in certain instances we may purchase additional assets and increase leverage in anticipation of an equity capital raise. Since our average borrowings and period end borrowings can be expected to differ, we believe our average borrowings during a period provide a more accurate representation of our exposure to the risks associated with leverage than our period end borrowings.

At December 31, 2023 the majority of our debt represented repurchase agreements and other secured financing arrangements collateralized by a pledge of our Residential Securities, residential mortgage loans, and MSR. At December 31, 2022, the majority of our debt represented repurchase agreements and other secured financing arrangements collateralized by a pledge of our Residential Securities, residential mortgage loans, and MSR. All of our Residential Securities are currently accepted as collateral for these borrowings. However, we limit our borrowings, and thus our potential asset growth, in order to maintain unused borrowing capacity and maintain the liquidity and strength of our balance sheet.

Other Income (Loss)

2023 Compared with 2022

Net Gains (Losses) on Investments and Other

Net gains (losses) on disposal of investments and other was ($2.9) billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared with ($3.5) billion for the same period in 2022. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we disposed of Residential Securities with a carrying value of $36.4 billion for an aggregate net loss of ($2.9) billion. For the same period in 2022, we disposed of Residential Securities with a carrying value of $28.9 billion for an aggregate net loss of ($3.6) billion and we recognized a realized gain of $33.4 million as a result of deconsolidating a multifamily VIE.

Net unrealized gains (losses) on instruments measured at fair value through earnings was $797.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to ($1.1) billion for the same period in 2022, primarily due to favorable changes in unrealized gains (losses) on securitized residential whole loans of consolidated VIEs of $1.5 billion, Agency MBS of $1.5 billion, non-Agency MBS of $334.1 million, residential whole loans of $252.2 million, and CRT securities of $95.7 million partially offset by unfavorable changes in residential securitized debt of consolidated VIEs of ($1.5) billion, MSR of ($134.9) million and participations issued of ($123.5) million.

Net Gains (Losses) on Derivatives

Net gains (losses) on interest rate swaps for the year ended December 31, 2023 was $0.7 billion compared to $3.6 billion for the same period in 2022, attributable to unfavorable changes in unrealized gains (losses) on interest rate swaps, partially offset by the changes in net interest component of interest rate swaps and realized gains (losses) on termination or maturity of interest rate swaps. Unrealized gains (losses) on interest rate swaps was ($815.6) million for the year ended December 31, 2023, reflecting quarters of rate rallies and sell-offs in forward interest rates during the current period, compared to $3.5 billion for the same period in 2022, reflecting a sharper rise in forward interest rates during the prior period. Realized gains (losses) on termination or maturity of interest rate swaps was ($74.8) million resulting from the termination or maturity of interest rate swaps with a notional amount of $12.7 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to ($266.4) million resulting from the termination or maturity of interest rate swaps with a notional amount of $21.3 billion for the same period in 2022. Net interest component of interest rate swaps was $1.6 billion for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $366.2 million for the same period in 2022 due to an increase in average notional complemented by a full year of net receive rates.

59

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Net gains (losses) on other derivatives was ($294.6) million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $1.3 billion for the same period in 2022. The change in net gains (losses) on other derivatives was primarily due to unfavorable changes in net gains (losses) on futures contracts, which was ($6.8) million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $4.0 billion for the same period in 2022 and net gains (losses) on interest rate swaptions, which was ($148.8) million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $152.0 million for the same period in 2022, partially offset by a favorable change in net gains (losses) on TBA derivatives, which was ($140.8) million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to ($2.8) billion for the same period in 2022.

Loan Loss (Provision) Reversal

For the year ended December 31, 2023, a loan loss (provision) reversal of $0.2 million was recorded on commercial mortgage and corporate loans compared to $20.7 million for the same period in 2022. Refer to the “Loans” Note located within Item 15 for additional information related to these loan loss provisions.

Business Divestiture-Related Gains (Losses)

For the year ended December 31, 2023, there were no business divestiture-related gains (losses). For the year ended December 31, 2022, the majority of business divestiture-related gain (losses) were associated with the sale of our corporate loan interests. Refer to the “Sale of Middle Market Lending Portfolio” Note located within Item 15 for additional information related to the transaction.

Other, Net

Other, net includes brokerage and commission fees, due diligence costs, securitization expenses, and interest on custodial balances. We also report in Other, net items whose amounts, either individually or in the aggregate, would not, in the opinion of management, be meaningful to readers of the financial statements. Given the nature of certain components of this line item, balances may fluctuate from period to period. Other, net was $73.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $6.7 million for the same period in 2022, primarily attributable to an increase in interest on custodial balances, partially offset by an increase in MSR financing expenses.

General and Administrative Expenses

General and administrative (“G&A”) expenses consist of compensation and other expenses. The following table shows our total G&A expenses as compared to average total assets and average equity for the periods presented.

G&A Expenses and Operating Expense Ratios

2023 Compared with 2022

G&A expenses decreased $0.2 million to $162.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. The increase in compensation expense was almost fully offset by the decrease in other general and administrative expense due to lower expenses resulting from the divestiture of our MML assets, which was announced in the second quarter of 2022.

60

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Return on Average Equity

The following table shows the components of our annualized return on average equity for the periods presented.

Components of Annualized Return on Average Equity

Unrealized Gains and Losses - Available-for-Sale Investments

The unrealized fluctuations in market values of our available-for-sale Agency MBS, for which the fair value option is not elected, do not impact our GAAP net income (loss) but rather are reflected on our balance sheet by changing the carrying value of the asset and stockholders’ equity under accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). As a result of this fair value accounting treatment, our book value and book value per share are likely to fluctuate far more than if we used amortized cost accounting. As a result, comparisons with companies that use amortized cost accounting for some or all of their balance sheet may not be meaningful.

The following table shows cumulative unrealized gains and losses on our available-for-sale investments reflected in the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

Unrealized changes in the estimated fair value of available-for-sale investments may have a direct effect on our potential earnings and dividends: positive changes will increase our equity base and allow us to increase our borrowing capacity while negative changes tend to reduce borrowing capacity. A very large negative change in the net fair value of our available-for-sale Residential Securities might impair our liquidity position, requiring us to sell assets with the potential result of realized losses upon sale.

The fair value of these securities being less than amortized cost at December 31, 2023 is solely due to market conditions and not the quality of the assets. Substantially all of the Agency MBS have an actual or implied credit rating that is the same as that of the U.S. government. The investments do not require an allowance for credit losses because we currently have the ability and intent to hold the investments to maturity or for a period of time sufficient for a forecasted market price recovery up to or beyond the cost of the investments, and it is not more likely than not that we will be required to sell the investments before recovery of the amortized cost bases, which may be maturity. Also, we are guaranteed payment of the principal and interest amounts of the securities by the respective issuing Agency.

61

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Financial Condition

Total assets were $93.2 billion and $81.9 billion at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The change was primarily due to increases in Agency MBS of $4.0 billion, residential mortgage loans, including assets transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles, of $4.7 billion, MSR of $0.4 billion, receivable for unsettled trades of $2.1 billion, and principal and interest receivable of $0.6 billion, partially offset by decreases in CMBS of $0.3 billion and derivative assets of $0.2 billion. Our portfolio composition, net equity allocation and debt-to-net equity ratio by asset class were as follows at December 31, 2023:

Residential Securities

Substantially all of our Agency MBS at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 were backed by single-family residential mortgage loans and were secured with a first lien position on the underlying single-family properties. Our mortgage-backed securities were largely Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae pass through certificates or CMOs, which have an actual or implied credit rating that is the same as that of the U.S. government. We carry all of our Agency MBS at fair value on the Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition.

We accrete discount balances as an increase to interest income over the expected life of the related interest earning assets and we amortize premium balances as a decrease to interest income over the expected life of the related interest earning assets. At December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022 we had on our Consolidated Statements of Financial Condition a total of $1.4 billion and $1.1 billion, respectively, of unamortized discount (which is the difference between the remaining principal value and current amortized cost of our Residential Securities acquired at a price below principal value) and a total of $2.4 billion and $2.9 billion, respectively, of unamortized premium (which is the difference between the remaining principal value and the current amortized cost of our Residential Securities acquired at a price above principal value).

The weighted average experienced prepayment speed on our Agency MBS portfolio for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022 was 6.5% and 12.2%, respectively. The weighted average projected long-term prepayment speed on our Agency MBS portfolio as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 was 9.4% and 7.8%, respectively.

Given our current portfolio composition, if mortgage principal prepayment rates were to increase over the life of our mortgage-backed securities, all other factors being equal, our net interest income would decrease during the life of these mortgage-backed securities as we would be required to amortize our net premium balance into income over a shorter time period. Similarly, if mortgage principal prepayment rates were to decrease over the life of our mortgage-backed securities, all other factors being equal, our net interest income would increase during the life of these mortgage-backed securities as we would amortize our net premium balance over a longer time period.

62

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

The following table presents our Residential Securities that were carried at fair value at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.

The following table summarizes certain characteristics of our Residential Securities (excluding interest-only mortgage-backed securities) and interest-only mortgage-backed securities at December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022.

63

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

The following tables summarize certain characteristics of our Residential Credit portfolio at December 31, 2023.

Contractual Obligations

The following table summarizes the effect on our liquidity and cash flows from contractual obligations at December 31, 2023.  The table does not include the effect of net interest rate payments on our interest rate swap agreements. The net swap payments will fluctuate based on monthly changes in the receive rate. At December 31, 2023, the interest rate swaps had a net fair value of ($56.7) million.

In the coming periods, we expect to continue to finance our Residential Securities in a manner that is largely consistent with our current operations via repurchase agreements. We may use securitization structures, credit facilities, or other term financing structures to finance certain of our assets. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we received $6.2 billion from principal repayments and $31.3 billion in cash from disposal of Securities. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we received $9.5 billion from principal repayments and $25.0 billion in cash from disposal of Securities.

64

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Commitments and Contractual Obligations with Unconsolidated Entities

We do not have any commitments or contractual obligations arising from arrangements with unconsolidated entities that have or are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, cash requirements or capital resources.

Capital Management

Maintaining a strong balance sheet that can support the business even in times of economic stress and market volatility is of critical importance to our business strategy. A strong and robust capital position is essential to executing our investment strategy. Our capital strategy is predicated on a strong capital position, which enables us to execute our investment strategy regardless of the market environment. Our capital policy defines the parameters and principles supporting a comprehensive capital management practice.

The major risks impacting capital are liquidity and funding risk, investment/market risk, credit risk, counterparty risk, operational risk and compliance, regulatory and legal risk. For further discussion of the risks we are subject to, please see Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” of this annual report on Form 10-K.

Capital requirements are based on maintaining levels above approved thresholds, ensuring the quality of our capital appropriately reflects our asset mix, market and funding structure. In the event we fall short of our internal thresholds, we will consider appropriate actions which may include asset sales, changes in asset mix, reductions in asset purchases or originations, issuance of capital or other capital enhancing or risk reduction strategies.

Stockholders’ Equity

The following table provides a summary of total stockholders’ equity at December 31, 2023 and 2022:

Capital Stock

Common Stock

In December 2020, we announced that our Board authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of our outstanding common shares, which expired on December 31, 2021 (the “Prior Share Repurchase Program”). In January 2022, we announced that our Board authorized the repurchase of up to $1.5 billion of our outstanding shares of common stock through December 31, 2024 (the “Current Share Repurchase Program”). The Current Share Repurchase Program replaced the Prior Share Repurchase Program. During the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, no shares were repurchased under the Current Share Repurchase Program or Prior Share Repurchase Program.

On August 6, 2020, we entered into separate Amended and Restated Distribution Agency Agreements (as amended by Amendment No. 1 to the Amended and Restated Distribution Agency Agreements on August 6, 2021, and Amendment No. 2 to the Amended and Restated Distribution Agency Agreements on November 3, 2022, collectively, the “Sales Agreements”) with each of Barclays Capital Inc., BofA Securities, Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, RBC Capital Markets, LLC, UBS Securities LLC and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC (collectively, the “Sales Agents”). Pursuant to the Sales Agreements, we may offer and sell shares of common stock, having an aggregate offering price of up to $1.5 billion, from time to time through any of the Sales Agents (the “at-the-market sales program”).

During the year ended December 31, 2023, under the at-the-market sales program, we issued 31.4 million shares for proceeds of $0.7 billion, net of commissions and fees. During the year ended December 31, 2022, under the at-the-market sales program,

65

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

we issued 45.7 million shares for proceeds of $1.1 billion, net of commissions and fees. The foregoing share amounts have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the effects of the Reverse Stock Split.

During the year ended December 31, 2022, we closed two public offerings for an aggregate original issuance of 50 million shares of common stock for aggregate proceeds of $1.31 billion before deducting offering expenses. In connection with each offering, we granted the underwriters a thirty-day option to purchase up to an additional 3.75 million shares of common stock, which the underwriters exercised in full in both instances, resulting in an additional $196.5 million in proceeds before deducting offering expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022. The 2022 share amounts have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the effects of the Reverse Stock Split.

Preferred Stock

On November 3, 2022, our Board approved a repurchase plan for all of our existing outstanding Preferred Stock (as defined below, the “Preferred Stock Repurchase Program”). Under the terms of the plan, we are authorized to repurchase up to an aggregate of 63,500,000 shares of Preferred Stock, comprised of up to (i) 28,800,000 shares of our 6.95% Series F Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Series F Preferred Stock”), (ii) 17,000,000 shares of our 6.50% Series G Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Series G Preferred Stock”), and (iii) 17,700,000 shares of our 6.75% Series I Fixed-to-Floating Rate Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock, par value $0.01 per share (the “Series I Preferred Stock”, and together with Series F Preferred Stock and Series G Preferred Stock, the “Preferred Stock”). The aggregate liquidation value of the Preferred Stock that may be repurchased by us pursuant to the Preferred Stock Repurchase Program, as of November 3, 2022, was approximately $1.6 billion. The Preferred Stock Repurchase Program became effective on November 3, 2022, and shall expire on December 31, 2024. No shares were repurchased with respect to the Preferred Stock Repurchase Program during the year ended December 31, 2023.

Purchases made pursuant to the Preferred Stock Repurchase Program will be made in either the open market or in privately negotiated transactions from time to time as permitted by securities laws and other legal requirements. The timing, manner, price and amount of any repurchases will be determined by us in our discretion and will be subject to economic and market conditions, stock price, applicable legal requirements and other factors. The authorization does not obligate us to acquire any particular amount of Preferred Stock and the program may be suspended or discontinued at our discretion without prior notice.

Leverage and Capital

We believe that it is prudent to maintain conservative GAAP leverage ratios and economic leverage ratios as there may be continued volatility in the mortgage and credit markets. Our capital policy governs our capital and leverage position including setting limits. Based on the guidelines, we generally expect to maintain an economic leverage ratio of less than 10:1. Our actual economic leverage ratio varies from time to time based upon various factors, including our management’s opinion of the level of risk of our assets and liabilities, our liquidity position, our level of unused borrowing capacity, the availability of credit, over-collateralization levels required by lenders when we pledge assets to secure borrowings and our assessment of domestic and international market conditions.

Our GAAP leverage ratio at December 31, 2023 and 2022 was 6.8:1 and 6.0:1, respectively. Our economic leverage ratio, which is computed as the sum of Recourse Debt, cost basis of TBA and CMBX derivatives outstanding, and net forward purchases (sales) of investments divided by total equity was 5.7:1 and 6.3:1, at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Our GAAP capital ratio at December 31, 2023 and 2022 was 12.2% and 13.9%, respectively. Our economic capital ratio, which represents our ratio of stockholders’ equity to total economic assets (inclusive of the implied market value of TBA derivatives and net of debt issued by securitization vehicles), was 14.0% and 13.4% at December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Economic leverage ratio and economic capital ratio are non-GAAP financial measures. Refer to the “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” section for additional information, including reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP results.

Risk Management

We are subject to a variety of risks in the ordinary conduct of our business. The effective management of these risks is of critical importance to the overall success of Annaly. The objective of our risk management framework is to identify, measure and monitor these risks.

Our risk management framework is intended to facilitate a holistic, enterprise-wide view of risk. We believe we have built a strong and collaborative risk management culture throughout Annaly focused on awareness which supports appropriate understanding and management of our key risks. Each employee is accountable for identifying, monitoring and managing risk within their area of responsibility.

66

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Risk Appetite

We maintain a firm-wide risk appetite statement which defines the types and levels of risk we are willing to take in order to achieve our business objectives, and reflects our risk management philosophy. We engage in risk activities based on our core expertise that aim to enhance value for our stockholders. Our activities focus on income generation and capital preservation through proactive portfolio management, supported by a conservative liquidity and leverage posture.

The risk appetite statement asserts the following key risk parameters to guide our investment management activities:

Governance

Risk management begins with our Board, through the review and oversight of the risk management framework, and executive management, through the ongoing formulation of risk management practices and related execution in managing risk. The Board exercises its oversight of risk management primarily through the Risk Committee and Audit Committee with support from the other Board Committees. The Risk Committee is responsible for oversight of our risk governance structure, risk management (operational and market risk) and risk assessment guidelines and policies and our risk appetite. The Audit Committee is responsible for oversight of the quality and integrity of our accounting, internal controls and financial reporting practices, including independent auditor selection, evaluation and review, and oversight of the internal audit function. The Risk Committee and the Audit Committee jointly oversee practices and policies related to cybersecurity and receive regular reports from management throughout the year on cybersecurity and related risks. The Management Development and Compensation Committee is responsible for oversight of risk related to our compensation policies and practices and other human capital matters such as succession and culture. The Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee assists the Board in its oversight of our corporate governance framework and the annual self-evaluation of the Board, and the Corporate Responsibility Committee assists the Board in its oversight of any matters that may present reputational or ESG risk to us. The Corporate Responsibility Committee shares oversight of specific ESG-related matters with other Board Committees and meets jointly with the Management Development and Compensation Committee on the Company's human capital management and culture and with the Risk Committee on ESG-related regulatory and policy risks.

Risk assessment and risk management are the responsibility of our management. A series of management committees has oversight or decision-making responsibilities for risk management activities. Membership of these committees is reviewed regularly to ensure the appropriate personnel are engaged in the risk management process. Three primary management committees have been established to provide a comprehensive framework for risk management. The management committees responsible for our risk management include the Enterprise Risk Committee (“ERC”), Asset / Liability Committee (“ALCO”) and the Financial Reporting and Disclosure Committee (“FRDC”). Each of these committees reports to our management Operating Committee, which is responsible for oversight and management of our operations, including oversight and approval authority over all aspects of our enterprise risk management.

Audit Services is an independent function with reporting lines to the Audit Committee. Audit Services is responsible for performing our internal audit activities, which includes independently assessing and validating key controls within the risk management framework.

67

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Our compliance group is responsible for oversight of our regulatory compliance. Our Chief Compliance Officer has reporting lines to the Audit Committee.

Description of Risks

We are subject to a variety of risks due to the business we operate. Risk categories are an important component of a robust enterprise-wide risk management framework.

We have identified the following primary categories that we utilize to identify, assess, measure and monitor risk.

68

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Liquidity and Funding Risk Management

Our liquidity and funding risk management strategy is designed to ensure the availability of sufficient resources to support our business and meet our financial obligations under both normal and adverse market and business environments. Our liquidity and funding risk management practices consist of the following primary elements:

Funding

Our primary financing sources are repurchase agreements provided through counterparty arrangements and through Arcola, other secured financing, debt issued by securitization vehicles, mortgages, credit facilities, note sales and various forms of equity. We maintain excess liquidity by holding unencumbered liquid assets that could be either used to collateralize additional borrowings or sold.

We seek to conservatively manage our repurchase agreement funding position through a variety of methods including diversity, breadth and depth of counterparties and maintaining a staggered maturity profile.

Arcola, provides direct access to third party funding as a FINRA member broker-dealer. Arcola borrows funds through the General Collateral Finance Repo service offered by the FICC, with FICC acting as the central counterparty. In addition, Arcola may borrow funds through direct repurchase agreements.

To reduce our liquidity risk we maintain a laddered approach to our repurchase agreements. At December 31, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the weighted average days to maturity was 44 days and 27 days, respectively.

Our repurchase agreements generally provide that in the event of a margin call we must provide additional securities or cash on the same business day that a margin call is made. Should prepayment speeds on the mortgages underlying our Agency and Residential mortgage-backed securities and/or market interest rates or other factors move suddenly and cause declines in the market value of assets posted as collateral, resulting margin calls may cause an adverse change in our liquidity position.

At December 31, 2023, we had total financial assets and cash pledged against existing liabilities of $67.5 billion. The weighted average haircut was approximately 3% on repurchase agreements. The quality and character of the Residential Securities that we pledge as collateral under the repurchase agreements and interest rate swaps did not materially change at December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, and our counterparties did not materially alter any requirements, including required haircuts, related to the collateral we pledge under repurchase agreements and interest rate swaps during the year ended December 31, 2023.

The following table presents our quarterly average and quarter-end repurchase agreement and reverse repurchase agreement balances outstanding for the periods presented:

69

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

The following table provides information on our repurchase agreements and other secured financing by maturity date at December 31, 2023. The weighted average remaining maturity on our repurchase agreements and other secured financing was 46 days at December 31, 2023:

We also finance our investments in residential mortgage loans through the issuance of securitization transactions sponsored by our wholly-owned subsidiary Onslow Bay Financial LLC (“Onslow Bay”) under the Onslow Bay private-label securitization program.

The following table presents our outstanding debt balances and associated weighted average rates and days to maturity at December 31, 2023:

Excess Liquidity

Our primary source of liquidity is the availability of unencumbered assets which may be provided as collateral to support additional funding needs. We target minimum thresholds of available, unencumbered assets to maintain excess liquidity. The following table illustrates our asset portfolio available to support potential collateral obligations and funding needs.

Assets are considered encumbered if pledged as collateral against an existing liability, and therefore are no longer available to support additional funding. An asset is considered unencumbered if it has not been pledged or securitized. The following table also provides the carrying amount of our encumbered and unencumbered financial assets at December 31, 2023:

70

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

We maintain liquid assets in order to satisfy our current and future obligations in normal and stressed operating environments. These are held as the primary means of liquidity risk mitigation. The composition of our liquid assets is also considered and is subject to certain parameters. The composition is monitored for concentration risk, including in respect of our deposits of our cash and cash equivalents, and asset type. We believe the assets we consider liquid can be readily converted into cash, through liquidation or by being used as collateral in financing arrangements (including as additional collateral to support existing financial arrangements). Our balance sheet also generates liquidity on an on-going basis through mortgage principal and interest repayments and net earnings held prior to payment of dividends. The following table presents our liquid assets as a percentage of total assets at December 31, 2023:

Maturity Profile

We consider the profile of our assets, liabilities and derivatives when managing both liquidity risk as well as investment/market risk employing a measurement of both the maturity gap and interest rate sensitivity gap. We determine the amount of liquid assets that are required to be held by monitoring several liquidity metrics. We utilize several modeling techniques to analyze our current and potential obligations including the expected cash flows from our assets, liabilities and derivatives. The following table illustrates the expected final maturities and cash flows of our assets, liabilities and derivatives. The table is based on a static portfolio and assumes no reinvestment of asset cash flows and no future liabilities are entered into. In assessing the maturity of our assets, liabilities and off-balance sheet obligations, we use the stated maturities, or our prepayment expectations for assets and liabilities that exhibit prepayment characteristics. Cash and cash equivalents are included in the ‘Less than 3 Months’ maturity bucket, as they are typically held for a short period of time.

With respect to each maturity bucket, our maturity gap is considered negative when the amount of maturing liabilities exceeds the amount of maturing assets. A negative gap increases our liquidity risk as we must enter into future liabilities.

Our interest rate sensitivity gap is the difference between interest earning assets and interest bearing liabilities maturing or re-pricing within a given time period. Unlike the calculation of maturity gap, interest rate sensitivity gap includes the effect of our

71

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

interest rate swaps. A gap is considered positive when the amount of interest-rate sensitive assets exceeds the amount of interest-rate sensitive liabilities. A gap is considered negative when the amount of interest-rate sensitive liabilities exceeds interest-rate sensitive assets. During a period of rising interest rates, a negative gap would tend to adversely affect net interest income, while a positive gap would tend to result in an increase in net interest income. During a period of falling interest rates, a negative gap would tend to result in an increase in net interest income, while a positive gap would tend to affect net interest income adversely. Because different types of assets and liabilities with the same or similar maturities may react differently to changes in overall market rates or conditions, changes in interest rates may affect net interest income positively or negatively even if assets and liabilities were perfectly matched in each maturity category. The amount of assets and liabilities utilized to compute our interest rate sensitivity gap was determined in accordance with the contractual terms of the assets and liabilities, except that adjustable-rate loans and securities are included in the period in which their interest rates are first scheduled to adjust and not in the period in which they mature. The effects of interest rate swaps, whereby we generally pay a fixed rate and receive a floating rate and effectively lock in our financing costs for a longer term, are also reflected in our interest rate sensitivity gap.

The interest rate sensitivity of our assets and liabilities in the following table at December 31, 2023 could vary substantially based on actual prepayment experience.

The methodologies we employ for evaluating interest rate risk include an analysis of our interest rate “gap,” measurement of the duration and convexity of our portfolio and sensitivities to interest rates and spreads.

Stress Testing

We utilize liquidity stress testing to ensure we have sufficient liquidity under a variety of scenarios and stresses. These stress tests assist with the management of our pool of liquid assets and influence our current and future funding plans. The stresses applied include market-wide and firm-specific stresses.

72

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Liquidity Management Policies

We utilize a comprehensive liquidity policy structure to inform our liquidity risk management practices including monitoring and measurement, along with well-defined key risk indicators. Both quantitative and qualitative targets are utilized to measure the ongoing stability and condition of the liquidity position, and include the level and composition of unencumbered assets, as well as the sustainability of the funding composition under stress conditions.

We also monitor early warning metrics designed to measure the quality and depth of liquidity sources based upon both company-specific and market conditions. The metrics assist in assessing our liquidity conditions and are integrated into our escalation protocol.

Investment/Market Risk Management

One of the primary risks we are subject to is investment/market risk. Changes in the level of interest rates can affect our net interest income, which is the difference between the income we earn on our interest earning assets and the interest expense incurred from interest bearing liabilities and derivatives. Changes in the level of interest rates and spreads can also affect the value of our assets and potential realization of gains or losses from the sale of these assets. We may utilize a variety of financial instruments, including interest rate swaps, swaptions, options, futures and other hedges, in order to limit the adverse effects of interest rates on our results. In the case of interest rate swaps, we utilize contracts linked to SOFR but may also enter into interest rate swaps where the floating leg is linked to the overnight index swap rate or another index. In addition, we may use MAC interest rate swaps in which we may receive or make a payment at the time of entering such interest rate swap to compensate for the off-market nature of such interest rate swap. MAC interest rate swaps offer price transparency, flexibility and more efficient portfolio administration through compression which is the process of reducing the number of unique interest rate swap contracts and replacing them with fewer contracts containing market defined terms. Our portfolio and the value of our portfolio, including derivatives, may be adversely affected as a result of changing interest rates and spreads.

We simulate a wide variety of interest rate scenarios in evaluating our risk. Scenarios are run to capture our sensitivity to changes in interest rates, spreads and the shape of the yield curve. We also consider the assumptions affecting our analysis such as those related to prepayments. In addition to predefined interest rate scenarios, we utilize Value-at-Risk measures to estimate potential losses in the portfolio over various time horizons utilizing various confidence levels. The following tables estimate the potential changes in economic net interest income over a twelve month period and the immediate effect on our portfolio market value (inclusive of derivative instruments), should interest rates instantaneously increase or decrease by 25, 50 or 75 basis points, and the effect of portfolio market value if mortgage option-adjusted spreads instantaneously increase or decrease by 5, 15 or 25 basis points (assuming shocks are parallel and instantaneous). All changes to income and portfolio market value are measured as percentage changes from the projected net interest income and portfolio value at the base interest rate scenario. The net interest income simulations incorporate the interest expense effect of rate resets on liabilities and derivatives as well as the amortization expense and reinvestment of principal based on the prepayments on our securities, which varies based on the level of rates. The results assume no management actions in response to the rate or spread changes. The following table presents estimates at December 31, 2023. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates.

73

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Credit Risk Management

Key risk parameters have been established to specify our credit risk appetite. We seek to manage credit risk by making investments which conform to the firm’s specific investment policy parameters and optimize risk-return attributes.

While we do not expect to encounter credit risk in our Agency mortgage-backed securities, we face credit risk on the non-Agency mortgage-backed securities and CRT securities in our portfolio. In addition, we are also exposed to credit risk on residential mortgage loans and commercial real estate investments. MSR values may also be impacted through reduced servicing fees and higher costs to service the underlying mortgage loans due to borrower performance. Generally, we are subject to risk of loss if an issuer or borrower fails to perform its contractual obligations. We have established policies and procedures for mitigating credit risk, including establishing and reviewing limits for credit exposure. In the case of residential mortgage loans and MSR, we may engage a third party to perform due diligence on a sample of loans that we believe sufficiently represents the entire pool. Once an investment is made, our ongoing surveillance process includes regular reviews, analysis and oversight of investments by our investment personnel and appropriate committee. We review credit and other risks of loss associated with each investment. Our management monitors the overall portfolio risk and determines estimates of provision for loss. Additionally, ALCO has oversight of our credit risk exposure.

Our portfolio composition, based on balance sheet values, at December 31, 2023 and 2022 was as follows:

Counterparty Risk Management

Our use of repurchase and derivative agreements and trading activities create exposure to counterparty risk relating to potential losses that could be recognized if the counterparties to these agreements fail to perform their obligations under the contracts. In the event of default by a counterparty, we could have difficulty obtaining our assets pledged as collateral. A significant portion of our investments are financed with repurchase agreements by pledging our Residential Securities as collateral to the

74

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

applicable lender. The collateral we pledge generally exceeds the amount of the borrowings under each agreement. If the counterparty to the repurchase agreement defaults on its obligations and we are not able to recover our pledged asset, we are at risk of losing the over-collateralization or haircut. The amount of this exposure is the difference between the amount loaned to us plus interest due to the counterparty and the fair value of the collateral pledged by us to the lender including accrued interest receivable on such collateral.

We also use interest rate swaps and other derivatives to manage interest rate risk. Under these agreements, we pledge securities and cash as collateral or settle variation margin payments as part of a margin arrangement.

If a counterparty were to default on its obligations, we would be exposed to a loss to a derivative counterparty to the extent that the amount of our securities or cash pledged exceeded the unrealized loss on the associated derivative and we were not able to recover the excess collateral. Additionally, we would be exposed to a loss to a derivative counterparty to the extent that our unrealized gains on derivative instruments exceeded the amount of the counterparty’s securities or cash pledged to us.

We monitor our exposure to counterparties across several dimensions including by type of arrangement, collateral type, counterparty type, ratings and geography. Additionally, ALCO has oversight of our counterparty exposure.

The following table summarizes our exposure to counterparties by geography at December 31, 2023:

Operational Risk Management

We are subject to operational risk in each of our business and support functions. Operational risk may arise from internal or external sources including human error, fraud, systems issues, process change, vendors, business interruptions and other external events. We manage operational risk through a variety of tools including processes, policies and procedures that cover topics such as business continuity, personal conduct, cybersecurity and vendor management. Other tools include Risk and Control Self Assessment (“RCSA”) testing, including disaster recovery/testing; systems controls, including access controls; training, including phishing exercises and cybersecurity awareness training; and monitoring, which includes the use of key risk indicators. Our Operational Risk Management team conducts a disaster recovery exercise on an annual basis and periodically conducts other operational risk tabletop exercises. Employee-level lines of defense against operational risk include proper segregation of incompatible duties, activity-level internal controls over financial reporting, the empowerment of business units to identify and mitigate operational risk sources, testing by our internal audit staff, and our overall governance framework.

Operational Risk Management responsibilities are overseen by the ERC. The ERC is responsible for supporting the Operating Committee in the implementation, ongoing monitoring, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the enterprise-wide risk management framework. This oversight authority includes review of the strategies, processes, policies, and practices established by management to identify, assess, measure, and manage enterprise-wide risk.

Cybersecurity is part of our enterprise-wide risk management framework. Processes for assessing, identifying, and managing cybersecurity risks include cybersecurity risk assessments, use of key risk indicators, vendor cybersecurity risk management, employee training, including phishing exercises and cybersecurity awareness training, penetration testing, evaluation of cybersecurity insurance and periodic engagements by our internal audit department, which determines whether our cybersecurity program and information security practices align with relevant parts of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) framework. We periodically engage penetration testing companies and law firms to assist in these processes. When we do so, we hire reputable companies, limit their access to only information necessary for the specific purpose and maintain security controls around confidential information, including personal information. We also maintain a Cybersecurity Incident Response Plan (“Response Plan”) with processes to identify, contain, mitigate and escalate cybersecurity incidents, utilizing cross-functional expertise and external resources as needed. We conduct tabletop exercises to test our Response Plan and our reaction to various business disruption events, and the results of these tabletop exercises are reported to the Cybersecurity Committee and the ERC.

75

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

We also have processes in place to oversee and identify material risks from cybersecurity threats associated with our use of third party service providers, including mortgage loan servicers and sub-servicers, upon which we depend on to perform various business processes related to our operations. Our vendor management policy establishes procedures for engaging, onboarding and monitoring the performance of third party vendors. For mortgage loan servicers and sub-servicers, these procedures include assessing a vendor’s financial health as well as oversight of its compliance with applicable laws and regulations, cybersecurity and business continuity programs and security of personally identifiable information. We also have processes to evaluate and classify cybersecurity risk related to sensitive data held by key third party service providers on their systems.

The Cybersecurity Committee has primary responsibility for these processes to manage cybersecurity risks, under the oversight of the ERC. Daily monitoring of cybersecurity defenses is performed by the IT Infrastructure Team and any issues are escalated to the Cybersecurity Committee as needed. The Cybersecurity Committee regularly meets to discuss both routine oversight of cybersecurity processes, policies and procedures and management of any cyber-specific events, including escalation to the ERC, the executive leadership team and/or the Board as appropriate.

The Cybersecurity Committee includes representatives from Operational Risk Management, Information Technology, Legal, Mortgage Operations and Internal Control. Certain members of the Cybersecurity Committee have relevant qualifications such as extensive work experience implementing data security measures, developing cybersecurity policies and procedures, and assessing, managing and reporting cybersecurity risk. Members also participate in cybersecurity-related professional organizations that discuss industry threats, challenges and solutions to cybersecurity issues. Our Head of IT Infrastructure has completed the "Cybersecurity: Managing Risk in the Information Age" certificate program from Harvard University.

The Cybersecurity Committee regularly discusses cybersecurity risk management and best practices with the ERC and with the Audit and Risk Committees of our Board. The Audit and Risk Committees jointly oversee processes, practices and policies related to cybersecurity and receive joint and individual presentations from management and external experts on cyber and technology-related risks. Two members of our Board have completed the Carnegie Mellon/NACD Cyber-Risk Oversight Program and earned the CERT Certificate in Cybersecurity Oversight and one member of our Board has completed the NACD Master Class: Cyber-Risk Oversight Program.

To date, we have not detected any risks from cybersecurity threats that have materially affected us. However, even though we take steps to employ reasonable cybersecurity efforts, not every cybersecurity incident can be prevented or detected. We also may be held responsible for cybersecurity threats affecting our third party service providers, including mortgage sub-servicers. Therefore, while we believe there are currently no risks from any potential cybersecurity threat or cybersecurity incident that are reasonably likely to have a material effect on our business strategy, results of operations or financial condition, the likelihood or severity of such risks are difficult to predict. For further discussion, please see the risk factors titled "We are highly dependent on information systems and networks, many of which are operated by third parties, and any failure of these systems or networks could materially and adversely affect our business" and "Cyberattacks or other information security breaches could adversely affect our business, reputation and financial condition" in Part I, Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Compliance, Regulatory and Legal Risk Management

Our business is organized as a REIT, and we seek to continue to meet the requirements for taxation as a REIT. The determination that we are a REIT requires an analysis of various factual matters and circumstances. Accordingly, we closely monitor our REIT status within our risk management program. We also regularly assess our risk management in respect of our regulated and licensed subsidiaries, which include our registered broker-dealer subsidiary Arcola, our subsidiary that is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act and our subsidiary that operates as a licensed mortgage aggregator and master servicer.

The financial services industry is highly regulated and receives significant attention from regulators, which may impact both our company and our business strategy. Our investments in residential whole loans and MSR require us to comply with applicable state and federal laws and regulations and maintain appropriate governmental licenses, approvals and exemptions. We proactively monitor the potential impact regulation may have both directly and indirectly on us. We maintain a process to actively monitor both actual and potential legal action that may affect us. Our risk management framework is designed to identify, measure and monitor these risks under oversight of the ERC.

We currently rely on the exemption from registration provided by Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the Investment Company Act, and we seek to continue to meet the requirements for this exemption from registration. The determination that we qualify for this exemption from registration depends on various factual matters and circumstances. Accordingly, in conjunction with our legal department, we closely monitor our compliance with Section 3(c)(5)(C) within our risk management program. Compliance with Section 3(c)(5)(C) of the Investment Company Act is monitored by the FRDC under the oversight of the ERC.

76

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Critical Accounting Estimates

The preparation of our consolidated financial statement in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States requires us to make estimates, judgments and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. Actual results may differ materially from these estimates and changes in assumptions could have a significant effect on the consolidated financial statements. Our critical accounting policies that require us to make significant judgments or estimates are described below. For more information on these critical accounting policies and other significant accounting policies, refer to the Note titled “Significant Accounting Policies” in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15. “Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.”

Valuation of Financial Instruments

Residential Securities

Description: We carry residential securities at estimated fair value. There is an active market for our Agency mortgage-backed securities, CRT securities and non-Agency mortgage-backed securities.

Judgments and Uncertainties: Since we primarily invest in securities that can be valued using quoted prices for actively traded assets, there is a high degree of observable inputs and less subjectivity in measuring fair value. Internal fair values are determined using quoted prices from the TBA securities market, the Treasury curve and the underlying characteristics of the individual securities, which may include coupon, periodic and life caps, reset dates and the expected life of the security. While prepayment rates may be difficult to predict and require estimation and judgment in the valuation of Agency mortgage-backed securities, we use several third party models to validate prepayment speeds used in fair value measurements of residential securities. All internal fair values are compared to external pricing sources and/or dealer quotes to determine reasonableness. Additionally, securities used as collateral for repurchase agreements are priced daily by counterparties to ensure sufficient collateralization, providing additional verification of our internal pricing.

Sensitivity of Estimates to Change: Changes in underlying assumptions used in estimating fair value impact the carrying value of the residential securities as well as their yield. For example, an increase in CPR would decrease the carrying value and yield of our Agency mortgage-backed securities. Our valuations are most sensitive to changes in interest rate, which also impacts prepayment speeds. Refer to the Experienced and Projected Long-Term CPR, Financial Condition – Residential Securities and the interest rate sensitivity and interest rate and MBS spread shock analysis and discussions within this Item 7. for further information.

Residential Mortgage Loans

Description: We elected to account for Residential Mortgage Loans at fair value. There is an active market for the residential whole loans in which we invest.

Judgments and Uncertainties: Since we primarily invest in residential loans that can be valued using actively quoted prices for similar assets, there are observable inputs in measuring fair value. Internal fair values are determined using quoted prices for similar market transactions, the swap curve and the underlying characteristics of the individual loans, which may include loan term, coupon, and reset dates. While prepayment rates may be difficult to predict and are a significant estimate requiring judgment in the valuation of residential whole loans, we validate prepayment speeds against those provided by independent pricing analytic providers specializing in residential mortgage loans. Internal fair values are generally compared to external pricing sources to determine reasonableness.

Sensitivity of Estimates to Change: Changes to model assumptions, including prepayment speeds may significantly impact the fair value estimate of residential mortgage loans as well as unrealized gains and losses and yield on these assets. Our valuations are most sensitive to changes in interest rate, which also impacts prepayment speeds. Refer to the interest rate sensitivity and interest rate shock analysis and discussions within this Item 7. for further information.

MSR

Description: We elected to account for MSR at fair value. The market for MSR is considered less active and transparent compared to securities. As such fair value estimates for our investment in MSR are obtained from models, which use significant unobservable inputs in their valuations.

Judgments and Uncertainties: These valuations primarily utilize discounted cash flow models that incorporate unobservable market data inputs including prepayment rates, delinquency levels, costs to service and discount rates. Model valuations are then compared to valuations obtained from third party pricing providers. Management reviews the valuations received from

77

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

third party pricing providers and uses them as a point of comparison to modeled values. The valuation of MSR requires significant judgment by management and the third party pricing providers.

Sensitivity of Estimates to Change: Changes in the underlying assumptions used to estimate the fair value of MSR impact the carrying value as well as the related unrealized gains and losses recognized. For further discussion of the sensitivity of the model inputs refer to the Note titled “Fair Value Measurements” in the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 15. “Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules.”

Interest Rate Swaps

Description: We are required to account for derivative assets and liabilities at fair value, which may or may not be cleared through a derivative clearing organization. We value our cleared interest rate swaps using the prices provided by the derivatives clearing organization. We value uncleared derivatives using internal models with prices compared to counterparty marks.

Judgments and Uncertainties: We use the overnight indexed swap (“OIS”) curve, the SOFR curve, or SOFR forward rates as an input to value substantially all of our uncleared interest rate swaps. Consistent with market practice, we exchange collateral (also called margin) based on the fair values of our interest rate swaps. Through this margining process, we may be able to compare our recorded fair value with the fair value calculated by the counterparty or derivatives clearing organization, providing additional verification of our recorded fair value of the uncleared interest rate swaps.

Sensitivity of Estimates to Change: Changes in the OIS curve will impact the carrying value of our interest rate swap assets and liabilities. Our valuations are most sensitive to changes in interest rate, which also impacts prepayment speeds. See the interest rate sensitivity and interest rate shock analysis and discussions within this Item 7. for further information.

Revenue Recognition

Description: Interest income from coupon payments is accrued based on the outstanding principal amounts of the Residential Securities and their contractual terms. Premiums and discounts associated with the purchase of the Residential Securities are amortized or accreted into interest income over the projected lives of the securities using the interest method. Gains or losses on sales of Residential Securities are recorded on trade date based on the specific identification method.

Judgments and Uncertainties: To aid in determining projected lives of the securities, we use third party model and market information to project prepayment speeds. Our prepayment speed projections incorporate underlying loan characteristics (i.e., coupon, term, original loan size, original loan-to-value ratio, etc.) and market data, including interest rate and home price index forecasts and expert judgment. Prepayment speeds vary according to the type of investment, conditions in the financial markets and other factors and cannot be predicted with any certainty.

Sensitivity of Estimates to Change: Changes to model assumptions, including interest rates and other market data, as well as periodic revisions to the model will cause changes in the results. Adjustments are made for actual prepayment activity as it relates to calculating the effective yield. The sensitivity of changes in interest rates to our economic net interest income is included in the interest rate shock analysis and discussions within this Item 7 for further information.

Consolidation of Variable Interest Entities

Description: We are required to determine if it is required to consolidate entities in which it holds a variable interest.

Judgments and Uncertainties: Determining whether an entity has a controlling financial interest in a VIE requires significant judgment related to assessing the purpose and design of the VIE and determination of the activities that most significantly impact its economic performance. We must also identify explicit and implicit variable interests in the entity and consider our involvement in both the design of the VIE and its ongoing activities. To determine whether consolidation of the VIE is required, we must apply judgment to assess whether we have the power to direct the most significant activities of the VIE and whether we have either the rights to receive benefits or the obligation to absorb losses that could be potentially significant to the VIE.

Use of Estimates

The use of GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ materially from those estimates.

78

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Glossary of Terms

A

Adjustable-Rate Loan / Security

A loan / security on which interest rates are adjusted at regular intervals according to predetermined criteria. The adjustable interest rate is tied to an objective, published interest rate index.

Agency

Refers to a federally chartered corporation, such as the Federal National Mortgage Association, or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, or an agency of the U.S. Government, such as the Government National Mortgage Association.

Agency Mortgage-Backed Securities

Refers to residential mortgage-backed securities that are issued or guaranteed by an Agency.

Amortization

Liquidation of a debt through installment payments.  Amortization also refers to the process of systematically reducing a recognized asset or liability (e.g., a purchase premium or discount for a debt security) with an offset to earnings.

Average GAAP Cost of Interest Bearing Liabilities and Average Economic Cost of Interest Bearing Liabilities

Average GAAP cost of interest bearing liabilities represents annualized interest expense divided by average interest bearing liabilities. Average interest bearing liabilities is a non-GAAP financial measure that reflects the average balances during the period. Average economic cost of interest bearing liabilities represents annualized economic interest expense divided by average interest bearing liabilities.

Average Life

On a mortgage-backed security, the average time to receipt of each dollar of principal, weighted by the amount of each principal prepayment, based on prepayment assumptions.

Average Yield on Interest Earnings Assets and Average Yield on Interest Earnings Assets (excluding PAA)

Average yield on interest earning assets represents annualized interest income divided by average interest earning assets. Average interest earning assets reflects the average amortized cost of our investments during the period. Average yield on interest earning assets (excluding PAA) is a non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated using annualized interest income (excluding PAA).

B

Basis Point (“bp” or “bps”)

One hundredth of one percent, used in expressing differences in interest rates.  One basis point is 0.01% of yield. For example, a bond’s yield that changed from 3.00% to 3.50% would be said to have moved 50 basis points.

Benchmark

A bond or an index referencing a basket of bonds whose terms are used for comparison with other bonds of similar maturity. The global financial market typically looks to U.S. Treasury securities as benchmarks.

Beneficial Owner

One who benefits from owning a security, even if the security’s title of ownership is in the name of a broker or bank.

Board

Refers to the board of directors of Annaly.

Bond

The written evidence of debt, bearing a stated rate or stated rates of interest, or stating a formula for determining that rate, and maturing on a date certain, on which date and upon presentation a fixed sum of money plus interest (usually represented by interest coupons attached to the bond) is payable to the holder or owner. Bonds are long-term securities with an original maturity of greater than one year.

Book Value Per Share

Calculated by summing common stock, additional paid-in capital, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and accumulated deficit and dividing that number by the total common shares outstanding.

Broker

Generic name for a securities firm engaged in both buying and selling securities on behalf of customers or its own account.

C

Capital Buffer

Includes unencumbered financial assets which can be either sold or utilized as collateral to meet liquidity needs.

Capital Ratio (GAAP Capital Ratio)

Calculated as total stockholders’ equity divided by total assets.

79

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Carry

The amount an asset earns over its hedging and financing costs. A positive carry happens when the rate on the securities being financed is greater than the rate on the funds borrowed. A negative carry is when the rate on the funds borrowed is greater than the rate on the securities that are being financed.

CMBX

The CMBX index is a synthetic tradable index referencing a basket of 25 CMBS of a particular rating and vintage. The CMBX index allows investors to take a long position (referred to as selling protection) or short position (referred to as purchasing protection) on the respective basket of CMBS securities and is structured as a “pay-as-you-go” contract whereby the protection seller receives and the protection buyer pays a standardized running coupon on the contracted notional amount. Additionally, the protection seller is obligated to pay to the protection buyer the amount of principal losses and/or coupon shortfalls on the underlying CMBS securities as they occur.

Collateral

Securities, cash or property pledged by a borrower or party to a derivative contract to secure payment of a loan or derivative. If the borrower fails to repay the loan or defaults under the derivative contract, the secured party may take ownership of the collateral.

Collateralized Loan Obligation (“CLO”)

A securitization collateralized by loans and other debt instruments.

Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (“CMO”)

A multiclass bond backed by a pool of mortgage pass-through securities or mortgage loans.

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”)

An independent U.S. federal agency established by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act of 1974. The CFTC regulates the swaps, commodity futures and options markets. Its goals include the promotion of competitive and efficient futures markets and the protection of investors against manipulation, abusive trade practices and fraud.

Commercial Mortgage-Backed Security (“CMBS” or “Commercial Securities”)

Securities collateralized by a pool of mortgages on commercial real estate in which all principal and interest from the mortgages flow to certificate holders in a defined sequence or manner.

Constant Prepayment Rate (“CPR”)

The percentage of outstanding mortgage loan principal that prepays in one year, based on the annualization of the Single Monthly Mortality, which reflects the outstanding mortgage loan principal that prepays in one month.

Convexity

A measure of the change in a security’s duration with respect to changes in interest rates. The more convex a security is, the more its duration will change with interest rate changes.

Corporate Debt

Non-government debt instruments issued by corporations. Long-term corporate debt can be issued as bonds or loans.

Counterparty

One of two entities in a transaction. For example, in the bond market a counterparty can be a state or local government, a broker-dealer or a corporation.

Coupon

The interest rate on a bond that is used to compute the amount of interest due on a periodic basis.

Credit and Counterparty Risk

Risk to earnings, capital or business, resulting from an obligor’s or counterparty’s failure to meet the terms of any contract or otherwise failure to perform as agreed. Credit and counterparty risk is present in lending, investing, funding and hedging activities.

Credit Derivatives

Derivative instruments that have one or more underlyings related to the credit risk of a specified entity (or group of entities) or an index that exposes the seller to potential loss from specified credit-risk related events. An example is credit derivatives referencing the commercial mortgage-backed securities index.

Credit Risk Transfer (“CRT”) Securities

Credit Risk Transfer securities are risk sharing transactions issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and similarly structured transactions arranged by third party market participants. The securities issued in the CRT sector are designed to synthetically transfer mortgage credit risk from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and/or third parties to private investors.

Current Face

The current remaining monthly principal on a mortgage security. Current face is computed by multiplying the original face value of the security by the current principal balance factor.

D

Dealer

Person or organization that underwrites, trades and sells securities, e.g., a principal market-maker in securities.

Default Risk

Possibility that a bond issuer will fail to pay principal or interest when due.

80

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Derivative

A financial product that derives its value from the price, price fluctuations and price expectations of an underlying instrument, index or reference pool (e.g. futures contracts, options, interest rate swaps, interest rate swaptions and certain to-be-announced securities).

Discount Price

When the dollar price is below face value, it is said to be selling at a discount.

Duration

The weighted maturity of a fixed-income investment’s cash flows, used in the estimation of the price sensitivity of fixed-income securities for a given change in interest rates.

E

Earnings available for distribution (“EAD”) and Earnings available for distribution Per Average Common Share

Non-GAAP financial measure defined as the sum of (a) economic net interest income, (b) TBA dollar roll income and CMBX coupon income, (c) net servicing income less realized amortization of MSR, (d) other income (loss) (excluding depreciation expense related to commercial real estate and amortization of intangibles, non-EAD income allocated to equity method investments and other non-EAD components of other income (loss)), (e) general and administrative expenses (excluding transaction expenses and non-recurring items), and (f) income taxes (excluding the income tax effect of non-EAD income (loss) items) and excludes (g) the premium amortization adjustment representing the cumulative impact on prior periods, but not the current period, of quarter-over-quarter changes in estimated long-term prepayment speeds related to our Agency mortgage-backed securities. Earnings available for distribution per average common share is a non-GAAP financial measure calculated by dividing earnings available for distribution by average basic common shares for the period.

This metric was previously labeled Core Earnings (excluding PAA) and Core Earnings (excluding PAA) Per Average Common Share). The definition of EAD is identical to the definition of Core Earnings (excluding PAA) from prior reporting periods.

Economic Capital

A measure of the risk a firm is subject to.  It is the amount of capital a firm needs as a buffer to protect against risk.  It is a probabilistic measure of potential future losses at a given confidence level over a given time horizon.

Economic Capital Ratio

Non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated as total stockholders’ equity divided by total economic assets. Total economic assets includes the implied market value of TBA derivatives and are net of debt issued by securitization vehicles .

Economic Interest Expense

Non-GAAP financial measure that is comprised of GAAP interest expense and the net interest component of interest rate swaps.

Economic Leverage Ratio (Economic Debt-to-Equity Ratio)

Non-GAAP financial measure that is calculated as the sum of recourse debt, cost basis of TBA and CMBX derivatives outstanding and net forward purchases (sales) of investments divided by total equity. Recourse debt consists of repurchase agreements, other secured financing and U.S. Treasury securities sold, not yet purchased. Debt issued by securitization vehicles and participations issued, are non-recourse to us and are excluded from this measure.

Economic Net Interest Income

Non-GAAP financial measure that is composed of GAAP interest income less Economic Interest Expense.

Economic Return

Refers to the Company’s change in book value plus dividends declared divided by the prior period’s book value.

Encumbered Assets

Assets on the company’s balance sheet which have been pledged as collateral against a liability.

ESG

Environmental, social, and governance.

F

Face Amount

The par value (i.e., principal or maturity value) of a security appearing on the face of the instrument.

Factor

A decimal value reflecting the proportion of the outstanding principal balance of a mortgage security, which changes over time, in relation to its original principal value.

Fannie Mae

Federal National Mortgage Association.

81

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”)

An independent agency created by the U.S. Congress to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation’s financial system by insuring deposits, examining and supervising financial institutions for safety and soundness and consumer protection, and managing receiverships.

Federal Funds Rate

The interest rate charged by banks on overnight loans of their excess reserve funds to other banks.

Federal Housing Financing Agency (“FHFA”)

The FHFA is an independent regulatory agency that oversees vital components of the secondary mortgage market including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”)

FINRA is a non-governmental organization tasked with regulating all business dealings conducted between dealers, brokers and all public investors.

Fixed-Rate Mortgage

A mortgage featuring level monthly payments, determined at the outset, which remain constant over the life of the mortgage.

Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (“FICC”)

The FICC is an agency that deals with the confirmation, settlement and delivery of fixed-income assets in the U.S. The agency ensures the systematic and efficient settlement of U.S. Government securities and mortgage-backed security transactions in the market.

Floating Rate Bond

A bond for which the interest rate is adjusted periodically according to a predetermined formula, usually linked to an index.

Floating Rate CMO

A CMO tranche which pays an adjustable rate of interest tied to a representative interest rate index such as the SOFR, the Constant Maturity Treasury or the Cost of Funds Index.

Freddie Mac

Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

Futures Contract

A legally binding agreement to buy or sell a commodity or financial instrument in a designated future month at a price agreed upon at the initiation of the contract by the buyer and seller. Futures contracts are standardized according to the quality, quantity, and delivery time and location for each commodity. A futures contract differs from an option in that an option gives one of the counterparties a right and the other an obligation to buy or sell, while a futures contract represents an obligation of both counterparties, one to deliver and the other to accept delivery. A futures contract is part of a class of financial instruments called derivatives.

G

GAAP

U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

Ginnie Mae

Government National Mortgage Association.

H

Hedge

An investment made with the intention of minimizing the impact of adverse movements in interest rates or securities prices.

I

In-the-Money

Description for an option that has intrinsic value and can be sold or exercised for a profit; a call option is in-the-money when the strike price (execution price) is below the market price of the underlying security.

Interest Bearing Liabilities

Refers to repurchase agreements, debt issued by securitization vehicles, U.S. Treasury securities sold, not yet purchased, and credit facilities. Average interest bearing liabilities is based on daily balances.

Interest Earning Assets

Refers to Residential Securities, U.S. Treasury securities, reverse repurchase agreements, commercial real estate debt and preferred equity interests, residential mortgage loans and corporate debt. Average interest earning assets is based on daily balances.

Interest-Only (IO) Bond

The interest portion of mortgage, Treasury or bond payments, which is separated and sold individually from the principal portion of those same payments.

82

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Interests in MSR

Represents agreements to purchase all, or a component of, net servicing cash flows.

Interest Rate Risk

The risk that an investment’s value will change due to a change in the absolute level of interest rates, in the spread between two rates, in the shape of the yield curve or in any other interest rate relationship. As market interest rates rise, the value of current fixed income investment holdings declines. Diversifying, deleveraging and hedging techniques are utilized to mitigate this risk. Interest rate risk is a form of market risk.

Interest Rate Swap

A binding agreement between counterparties to exchange periodic interest payments on some predetermined dollar principal, which is called the notional principal amount. For example, one party will pay fixed and receive a variable rate.

Interest Rate Swaption

Options on interest rate swaps. The buyer of a swaption has the right to enter into an interest rate swap agreement at some specified date in the future. The swaption agreement will specify whether the buyer of the swaption will be a fixed-rate receiver or a fixed-rate payer.

International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) Master Agreement

Standardized contract developed by ISDA used as an umbrella under which bilateral derivatives contracts are entered into.

Inverse IO Bond

An interest-only bond whose coupon is determined by a formula expressing an inverse relationship to a benchmark rate, such as SOFR. As the benchmark rate changes, the IO coupon adjusts in the opposite direction. When the benchmark rate is relatively low, the IO pays a relatively high coupon payment, and vice versa.

Investment/Market Risk

Risk to earnings, capital or business resulting in the decline in value of our assets caused from changes in market variables, such as interest rates, which affect the values of Residential Securities and other investment instruments.

Investment Advisers Act

Refers to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended.

Investment Company Act

Refers to the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.

L

Leverage

The use of borrowed money to increase investing power and economic returns.

Leverage Ratio (GAAP Leverage Ratio or Debt-to-Equity Ratio)

Calculated as total debt to total stockholders’ equity. For purposes of calculating this ratio total debt includes repurchase agreements, other secured financing, debt issued by securitization vehicles, participations issued, and U.S. Treasury securities sold, not yet purchased. Debt issued by securitization vehicles and participations issued and mortgages payable are non-recourse to us.

LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate)

A rate previously used as a benchmark for financial transactions. All tenors of LIBOR relevant to us are either no longer published or are no longer representative.

Liquidity Risk

Risk to earnings, capital or business arising from our inability to meet our obligations when they come due without incurring unacceptable losses because of inability to liquidate assets or obtain adequate funding.

Long-Term CPR

Our projected prepayment speeds for certain Agency mortgage-backed securities using third party model and market information. Our prepayment speed projections incorporate underlying loan characteristics (e.g., coupon, term, original loan size, original loan-to-value ratio, etc.) and market data, including interest rate and home price index forecasts.  Changes to model assumptions, including interest rates and other market data, as well as periodic revisions to the model will cause changes in the results.

Long-Term Debt

Debt which matures in more than one year.

M

Market Agreed Coupon (“MAC”) Interest Rate Swap

An interest rate swap contract structure with pre-defined, market agreed terms, developed by SIFMA and ISDA with the purpose of promoting liquidity and simplified administration.

Monetary Policy

Action taken by the Federal Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve System to influence the money supply or interest rates.

83

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Mortgage-Backed Security (“MBS”)

A security representing a direct interest in a pool of mortgage loans. The pass-through issuer or servicer collects the payments on the loans in the pool and “passes through” the principal and interest to the security holders on a pro rata basis.

Mortgage Loan

A mortgage loan granted by a bank, thrift or other financial institution that is based solely on real estate as security and is not insured or guaranteed by a government agency.

Mortgage Servicing Rights (“MSR”)

Contractual agreements constituting the right to service an existing mortgage where the holder receives the benefits and bears the costs and risks of servicing the mortgage.

N

NAV

Net asset value.

Net Interest Income

Represents interest income earned on our portfolio investments, less interest expense paid for borrowings.

Net Interest Margin and Net Interest Margin (excluding PAA)

Net interest margin represents our interest income less interest expense divided by average interest earning assets. Net interest margin (excluding PAA) is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents the sum of our interest income (excluding PAA) plus TBA dollar roll income and CMBX coupon income less interest expense and the net interest component of interest rate swaps divided by the sum of average interest earning assets plus average outstanding TBA contract and CMBX balances.

Net Interest Spread and Net Interest Spread (excluding PAA)

Net interest spread represents the average yield on interest earning assets less the average GAAP cost of interest bearing liabilities. Net interest spread (excluding PAA) is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents the average yield on interest earning assets (excluding PAA) less the average economic cost of interest bearing liabilities.

Non-Performing Loan (“NPL”)

A loan that is close to defaulting or is in default.

Notional Amount

A stated principal amount in a derivative contract on which the contract is based.

O

Operational Risk

Risk to earnings, capital, reputation or business arising from inadequate or failed internal processes or systems, human factors or external events.

Option Contract

A contract in which the buyer has the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an asset at a set price on or before a given date. Buyers of call options bet that a security will be worth more than the price set by the option (the strike price), plus the price they pay for the option itself. Buyers of put options bet that the security’s price will drop below the price set by the option. An option is part of a class of financial instruments called derivatives, which means these financial instruments derive their value from the worth of an underlying investment.

Original Face

The face value or original principal amount of a security on its issue date.

Out-of-the-Money

Description for an option that has no intrinsic value and would be worthless if it expired today; for a call option, this situation occurs when the strike price is higher than the market price of the underlying security; for a put option, this situation occurs when the strike price is less than the market price of the underlying security.

Overnight Index Swaps (“OIS”)

An interest rate swap in which a fixed rate is exchanged for an overnight floating rate.

Over-The-Counter (“OTC”) Market

A securities market that is conducted by dealers throughout the country through negotiation of price rather than through the use of an auction system as represented by a stock exchange.

P

Par

Price equal to the face amount of a security; 100%.

Par Amount

The principal amount of a bond or note due at maturity. Also known as par value.

Pass-Through Security

A securitization structure where a GSE or other entity “passes” the amount collected from the borrowers every month to the investor, after deducting fees and expenses.

84

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Pool

A collection of mortgage loans assembled by an originator or master servicer as the basis for a security. In the case of Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, or Freddie Mac mortgage pass-through securities, pools are identified by a number assigned by the issuing agency.

Premium

The amount by which the price of a security exceeds its principal amount. When the dollar price of a bond is above its face value, it is said to be selling at a premium.

Premium Amortization Adjustment (“PAA”)

The cumulative impact on prior periods, but not the current period, of quarter-over-quarter changes in estimated long-term prepayment speeds related to our Agency mortgage-backed securities.

Prepayment

The unscheduled partial or complete payment of the principal amount outstanding on a mortgage loan or other debt before it is due.

Prepayment Risk

The risk that falling interest rates will lead to increased prepayments of mortgage or other loans, forcing the investor to reinvest at lower prevailing rates.

Prepayment Speed

The estimated rate at which mortgage borrowers will pay off the mortgages that underlie an MBS.

Primary Market

Market for offers or sales of new bonds by the issuer.

Prime Rate

The indicative interest rate on loans that banks quote to their best commercial customers.

Principal and Interest

The term used to refer to regularly scheduled payments or prepayments of principal and payments of interest on a mortgage or other security.

R

Rate Reset

The adjustment of the interest rate on a floating-rate security according to a prescribed formula.

Real Estate Investment Trust (“REIT”)

A special purpose investment vehicle that provides investors with the ability to participate directly in the ownership or financing of real-estate related assets by pooling their capital to purchase and manage mortgage loans and/or income property.

Recourse Debt

Debt on which the economic borrower is obligated to repay the entire balance regardless of the value of the pledged collateral. By contrast, the economic borrower’s obligation to repay non-recourse debt is limited to the value of the pledged collateral. Recourse debt consists of repurchase agreements, other secured financing and U.S. Treasury securities sold, not yet purchased. Debt issued by securitization vehicles and participations issued are non-recourse to us and are excluded from this measure.

Reinvestment Risk

The risk that interest income or principal repayments will have to be reinvested at lower rates in a declining rate environment.

Re-Performing Loan (“RPL”)

A type of loan in which payments were previously delinquent by at least 90 days but have resumed.

Repurchase Agreement

The sale of securities to investors with the agreement to buy them back at a higher price after a specified time period; a form of short-term borrowing. For the party on the other end of the  transaction (buying the security and agreeing to sell in the future) it is a reverse repurchase agreement.

Residential Credit Securities

Refers to CRT securities and non-Agency mortgage-backed securities.

Residential Securities

Refers to Agency mortgage-backed securities, CRT securities and non-Agency mortgage-backed securities.

Residual

In securitizations, the residual is the tranche that collects any cash flow from the collateral that remains after obligations to the other tranches have been met.

Return on Average Equity

Calculated by taking earnings divided by average stockholders’ equity.

Reverse Repurchase Agreement

Refer to Repurchase Agreement. The buyer of securities effectively provides a collateralized loan to the seller.

Risk Appetite Statement

Defines the types and levels of risk we are willing to take in order to achieve our business objectives, and reflects our risk management philosophy.

85

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

S

Secondary Market

Ongoing market for bonds previously offered or sold in the primary market.

Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”)

Broad measure of the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by Treasury securities and was chosen by the Alternative Reference Rate Committee as the preferred benchmark rate to replace dollar LIBOR.

Settlement Date

The date securities must be delivered and paid for to complete a transaction.

Short-Term Debt

Generally, debt which matures in one year or less. However, certain securities that mature in up to three years may be considered short-term debt.

Spread

When buying or selling a bond through a brokerage firm, investors will be charged a commission or spread, which is the difference between the market price and cost of purchase, and sometimes a service fee. Spreads differ based on several factors including liquidity.

T

Target Assets

Includes Agency mortgage-backed securities, to-be-announced forward contracts, CRT securities, MSR, non-Agency mortgage-backed securities, residential mortgage loans, and commercial real estate investments.

Tangible Economic Return

Refers to the Company’s change in tangible book value (calculated by summing common stock, additional paid-in capital, accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) and accumulated deficit less intangible assets) plus dividends declared divided by the prior period’s tangible book value.

Taxable REIT Subsidiary (“TRS”)

An entity that is owned directly or indirectly by a REIT and has jointly elected with the REIT to be treated as a TRS for tax purposes. Annaly and certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries have made separate joint elections to treat these subsidiaries as TRSs.

Term SOFR

The term secured overnight financing rate published by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is used as a benchmark for financial transactions.

To-Be-Announced (“TBA”) Securities

A contract for the purchase or sale of a mortgage-backed security to be delivered at a predetermined price, face amount, issuer, coupon and stated maturity on an agreed-upon future date but does not include a specified pool number and number of pools.

TBA Dollar Roll Income

TBA dollar roll income is defined as the difference in price between two TBA contracts with the same terms but different settlement dates. The TBA contract settling in the later month typically prices at a discount to the earlier month contract with the difference in price commonly referred to as the “drop”. TBA dollar roll income represents the equivalent of interest income on the underlying security less an implied cost of financing.

Total Return

Investment performance measure over a stated time period which includes coupon interest, interest on interest, and any realized and unrealized gains or losses.

Total Return Swap

A derivative instrument where one party makes payments at a predetermined rate (either fixed or variable) while receiving a return on a specific asset (generally an equity index, loan or bond) held by the counterparty.

U

Unencumbered Assets

Assets on our balance sheet which have not been pledged as collateral against an existing liability.

U.S. Government-Sponsored Enterprise (“GSE”) Obligations

Obligations of Agencies originally established or chartered by the U.S. government to serve public purposes as specified by the U.S. Congress, such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; these obligations are not explicitly guaranteed as to the timely payment of principal and interest by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

V

Value-at-Risk (“VaR”)

A statistical technique which measures the potential loss in value of an asset or portfolio over a defined period for a given confidence interval.

Variable Interest Entity (“VIE”)

An entity in which equity investors (i) do not have the characteristics of a controlling financial interest, and/or (ii) do not have sufficient equity at risk for the entity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support from other parties.

86

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis

Variation Margin

Cash or securities provided by a party to collateralize its obligations under a transaction as a result of a change in value of such transaction since the trade was executed or the last time collateral was provided.

Volatility

A statistical measure of the variance of price or yield over time. Volatility is low if the price does not change very much over a short period of time, and high if there is a greater change.

Voting Interest Entity (“VOE”)

An entity that has sufficient equity to finance its activities without additional subordinated financial support from other parties and in which equity investors have a controlling financial interest.

W

Warehouse Lending

A line of credit extended to a loan originator to fund mortgages extended by the loan originators to property purchasers. The loan typically lasts from the time the mortgage is originated to when the mortgage is sold into the secondary market, whether directly or through a securitization.  Warehouse lending can provide liquidity to the loan origination market.

Weighted Average Coupon

The weighted average interest rate of the underlying mortgage loans or pools that serve as collateral for a security, weighted by the size of the principal loan balances.

Weighted Average Life (“WAL”)

The assumed weighted average amount of time that will elapse from the date of a security’s issuance until each dollar of principal is repaid to the investor. The WAL will change as the security ages and depending on the actual realized rate at which principal, scheduled and unscheduled, is paid on the loans underlying the MBS.

Y

Yield-to-Maturity

The expected rate of return of a bond if it is held to its maturity date; calculated by taking into account the current market price, stated redemption value, coupon payments and time to maturity and assuming all coupons are reinvested at the same rate; equivalent to the internal rate of return.

87

ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES