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The Obama administration on Friday declared the public-private housing finance model in place for the past four decades was dead but pledged to continue backing exisiting obligations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“The GSE model is dead,” an Obama administration official told reporters as the Treasury Department released a long-awaited report on options to revamp housing reform. Get the full story »
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee voted Tuesday to recommend Joseph A. Smith Jr. as the next director of the beleaguered housing finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The mortgage giants have received $151 billion from the federal government to keep them afloat, and President Barack Obama must tell Congress his plan for reorganizing the agencies next month. Smith would be in charge of carrying that out. Get the full story »
North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph A. Smith Jr. is being tapped by the White House to head the regulatory agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has been without a permanent director since August 2009. A new director would preside over the mortgage-finance titans just as an intense political battle begins over what should happen to the companies. Get the full story »
Amid growing public anger over U.S. home seizures, Bank of America Corp has suspended some of its foreclosures and JPMorgan Chase & Co has come under investigation in California and Connecticut. Get the full story »
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes lawmakers have multiple options when it comes to replacing troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“There are a variety of organizational forms that might replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could likely provide mortgage credit without the systemic risks associated with these institutions in the past,” Bernanke said in a set of written responses to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) released Friday. Get the full story »
The Obama administration, in an effort to shore up the Federal Housing Administration’s finances, is set to increase the annual premium the agency charges borrowers for mortgage insurance.
Under a measure that cleared Congress this week, the FHA would get authority to raise the annual premium it charges borrowers to 1.55 percent from the current 0.55 percent. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. Get the full story »
From CNN | Troubled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said goodbye to the New York Stock Exchange at the end of trade Wednesday. At the market open Thursday, Fannie and Freddie will start trading on the over-the-counter bulletin board — also known as pink sheets — under the symbols “FNMA” and “FMCC.” Get the full story »
From Reuters | Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage-lending giants that were seized by
the U.S. government in September 2008, are getting involved with CME group to design a clearing facility for the $414 trillion global market for interest-rate swaps.
Get the full story: reuters.com.
Former Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson Jr. spoke at the University of Chicago on Tuesday. (Abel Uribe/ Chicago Tribune)
By Greg Burns | A fundamental restructuring of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie
Mac is “highly likely” as the U.S. government moves to sharply reduce
its involvement in the housing market, former Treasury Secretary Henry
M. Paulson Jr. said Tuesday at the University of Chicago.
But necessary changes can’t occur right away because the financial
system remains heavily dependent on the government-backed companies,
Paulson said at an appearance to promote his new book, “On The Brink.”
