NLY 2023 Annual Report

costs, all in an effort to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders. Additionally, we have attracted capital partners to our business, augmenting our public capital markets efforts, which has resulted in increased scale without sacrificing balance sheet liquidity. Certain of our strategic relationships also afford us the opportunity to support communities through socially responsible investing. We have created multiple strategic and capital partnerships across our investment groups including the following: – Annaly Residential Credit Group has established relationships with key mortgage loan originators and aggregators including well-known money center banks, allowing us to efficiently source proprietary originations suited to our risk parameters. – We have partnered with GIC Private Limited (“GIC”), a leading sovereign wealth fund, through the creation of a joint venture with the purpose of investing in residential credit assets, including newly-originated residential loans and securities issued by our subsidiaries. – We have partnered with Capital Impact Partners, a national community development financial institution, to create a social impact joint venture supporting projects in underserved communities across the country. – We have partnered with Fifth Wall Ventures, the largest venture capital firm focused on technology for the real estate industry, through a commitment to invest in their funds that target investments in North American early- and late-stage real estate software and marketplace companies. The partnership aims to identify innovative platforms and services that provide efficiencies across our core investment strategies. Our Portfolio and Capital Allocation Policy Under our capital allocation policy and subject to oversight by our Board of Directors (“Board”), we may allocate our investments within our target asset classes as we determine to be appropriate from time to time. Our Board may adopt changes to our capital allocation policy and targeted assets at its discretion. The nature of our assets and our operations are intended to meet our REIT qualification requirements and our exemption from registration as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (“Investment Company Act”). Our portfolio composition and capital allocation at December 31, 2023 and 2022 were as follows: December 31, 2023 December 31, 2022 Asset Classes Percentage of Portfolio Capital Allocation (2) Percentage of Portfolio Capital Allocation (2) Agency (1)(2) 88% 61% 90% 66% Residential Credit (2) 8% 20% 7% 19% MSR (2) 3% 18% 2% 14% Commercial Real Estate 1% 1% 1% 1% (1) Includes to-be-announced forward contracts (“TBAs”). (2) Assets exclude assets transferred or pledged to securitization vehicles, include TBA purchase contracts (market value), unsettled MSR commitments, CMBX derivatives (market value), and retained securities that are eliminated in consolidation and are shown net of participations issued. 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: ANNALY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIES ITEM 1. BUSINESS 3

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