Press Release: May 11, 2001

WR Hambrecht + Co’s Core Technology Supports $5 Billion Dutch Auction of Freddie Mac Three-Year Reference Notes®

Third in a Series of Eight Scheduled Reference Note Auctions in 2001

San Francisco, CA, May 11, 2001—WR Hambrecht + Co announced today that its auction technology was used by Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) to price $5 billion of 5.00% three-year USD Reference Notes® due May 15, 2004. The issue was priced at 99.917 to yield 5.03% with a bid to cover ratio of 2.77. This auction, the third in a series of eight scheduled for 2001, is only the third time new term-debt global issues have been priced and distributed by a Government Sponsored Enterprise via a Dutch auction; the previous two, also Freddie Mac Reference Note auctions, took place February 9, 2001 and March 8, 2001.

“We were quite pleased with the results of this third Reference Note auction, especially the broad customer participation and the continued unparalleled response time enabled by our auction technology,” said Jerome Lienhard, Freddie Mac Senior Vice President, Investment Funding.

Borrowing upon its core auction technology, WR Hambrecht + Co has customized a web-based auction platform to Freddie Mac’s specifications. Reference Note auctions take place in a sealed-bid Dutch auction format through a designated dealer group. WR Hambrecht + Co has used this same auction technology in all of its on-line auction products: OpenIPO, the auction for initial public offerings; OpenBook, the auction for corporate debt; and OpenFollowOn, the auction for secondary offerings.

“We view our partnership with Freddie Mac as a unique opportunity to share our auction technology platform with a fellow pioneer in financial innovation,” said Bill Hambrecht, Chairman and CEO of WR Hambrecht + Co. “Like WRH+Co, Freddie Mac continues to strive to increase transparency in capital markets.”

Freddie Mac’s Reference Notes were designed to raise capital for housing in the United States by providing investors with large, liquid bellwether securities. Including the issue priced today, Freddie Mac has $145.50 billion in outstanding Reference Notes and Bonds.

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Freddie Mac is a stockholder-owned corporation established by Congress in 1970 to support homeownership and rental housing. Freddie Mac purchases single family and multifamily residential mortgages and mortgage-related securities, which it finances primarily by issuing mortgage passthrough securities and debt instruments in the capital markets. Over the years, Freddie Mac has opened the doors for one in six homebuyers and more than two million renters across America. Freddie Mac is the winner of the International Financing Review’s North American Borrower of the Year and Agency Borrower of the Year awards for the year 2000. For additional information about Freddie Mac, please see the Company’s web site: www.Freddiemac.com.