Asian and Middle Eastern central banks and sovereign wealth funds are increasingly anxious about the safety of their investments in the debt of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, despite the assurances of US government officials.

Spooked by US political wrangling, leading investors including the National Pension Service of Korea and the Kuwait Investment Authority have sold out of their holdings of the debt of the US Treasury-backed housing agencies since the 2008 global financial crisis.

Officials from central banks, including the Bank of Japan, say they will be far more cautious in future. “The GSEs [government sponsored enterprises] are not safe,” said one top official at an Asian central bank, who added that his institution was reluctant to sell its existing holdings because of fears of spooking the market.