With new regulations ushered in by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA), the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston will un-dergo several changes on its board of directors.

Directors formerly chosen from non-member institutions and known as “appointive” directors will now be elected and known as “inde-pendent” directors.

That board will also lose one director, going from eight members to seven, and will name two public interest directors instead of three. Public interest directors are chosen for their experience in representing consumer or community interests, banking services, credit needs, housing, or financial consumer protections.

Mark Zelermyer, vice president of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, said under the new HERA rules the Federal Housing Fi-nance Authority (FHFA) has the discretion to change the number of board members. Zelermyer said he did not know why the FHFA de-cided to remove a seat.

“Three terms are expiring and we’re losing one seat, so we have two seats up for election,” Zelermyer said.

Instead of appointing the directors as they had previously, the Federal Home Loan Bank nominates a slate for election, which is ap-proved by an FHFA regulator.

The bank has another board of directors elected from member institutions. Formerly known as the “elective” board, there are 10 “in-dustry” directors. Two terms expire this year on the industry board and will be replaced.

The FHFA did not return calls seeking comment.