The Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati CEO David Hehman will retire this summer after nine years in office and will be replaced by the bank’s Chief Operating Officer Andrew Howell.

FHLB Cincinnati is a $67 billion wholesale bank that provides mortgage financing to 741 institutions in the region. Hehman joined in 1977 and became CEO in 2003.

“I inherit from him a strong FHLBank with an extremely capable and dedicated staff,” Howell said, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have served our Fifth District members under President Hehman’s leadership, as well as for the confidence our board has placed in me.”

Howell joined the bank in 1989 and took over its mortgage purchase program and community investments in 2007. The next year he was promoted to COO. Of the 12 sibling banks, Cincinnati is the fifth largest FHLB by a percentage of the system’s entire asset portfolio. It currently holds 8.6% of the all FHLB assets, behind New York, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Chicago.

In the third quarter, FHLB Cincinnati earned $19 million down from $37 million for the same period a year earlier. Sharp decreases in mortgage rates led to the downturn.

Hehman helped lead the bank through two crises. As CEO, he expanded the mortgage purchase program and expanded its lender base to credit unions and insurance companies.

“The FHLBank maintains an important role in the infrastructure of the American banking system and the economy overall,” Hehman said. “I am glad to have been a member of the team that serves the Fifth District.”

Write to Jon Prior.

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