(Bloomberg) — Freddie Mac bought insurance to cover as much as$285 million of losses on a pool of U.S. home loans, in its thirdand largest such purchase under a risk-sharing effort encouraged byits regulator.

The taxpayer-backed mortgage giant obtained the policies, tiedto loans it bought or guaranteed in the second quarter of 2013,from a group of insurers and reinsurers, Freddie Mac said today inan e-mailed statement.

“We've been gaining quite a bit of traction in the market,” JeffShue, a director working on the deals, said today in a telephoneinterview. “We've got some new players involved in thistransaction, and they've indicated interest in participating on aconsistent basis. We feel confident we will see them again.”

Shue said the McLean, Virginia-based firm won't disclose thenames of the four companies “to be consistent with the standards inthe market.” Competitor Fannie Mae, which is also operating underU.S. conservatorship, announced a similar insurance deal inOctober.

Freddie Mac has cut its exposure to losses on more than $100billion of mortgages in the last year through sales of risk-sharingbonds and new insurance policies obtained from companies includingArch Capital Group Ltd.

The latest policies shift more of the risk from the same pool ofsingle-family loans that Freddie Mac referenced with risk-sharingbonds sold in February, Shue said. The mortgages themselves arepackaged into other securities that the company guarantees.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are transferring more of their riskto the private market, a model envisioned by legislation soughtthis year by the leaders of the Senate's banking committee. FederalHousing Finance Agency Director Melvin L. Watt said in May he wouldseek such risk-sharing transactions to keep “taxpayers from bearingall of the potential losses” as the companies back about 60% of newhome loans.

'Better Credit'

The loans referenced by the $1.8 billion of risk-sharing bondssold by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last year and $4.3 billionplaced this year have experienced minimal delinquencies, reflectingtheir “better credit attributes than historical averages,” FitchRatings said yesterday in a report. Only 0.17% are currentlydelinquent, the rating firm said.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae already rely on mortgage insurers tobear losses on loans with less than 20% down payments. Fannie Maein May sold the first risk-sharing securities tied to suchmortgages to obtain further protection.

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