FHFA

The consolidation of the two companies' securitization platforms into a single bond market became official on Monday.

The launch of a combined securitization platform for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is meant to ease the transition to a new housing finance system. But questions remain about how the mortgage sphere will adapt to the single security.

Government-sponsored enterprise executives say they want to continue to offer credit risk transfers and guarantee-fee parity after the GSEs are released from conservatorship, but they might not be able to.

Mark Calabria said he wants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to take preliminary steps by Jan. 1 toward exiting conservatorship.

In his first public policy speech as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Calabria stressed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have to raise significant capital via a public offering and take other steps in order to escape government control.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has named three senior advisers for policy, economics and communications.

Investors can now exchange certain existing Freddie Mac bonds for to-be-announced uniform mortgage-backed securities in preparation for the full launch of UMBS next month.

Fannie Mae is considering sharing more risk with the private sector to reduce future strain on its earnings from the implementation of the Current Expected Credit Loss accounting standard next year.

New FHFA Director Mark Calabria isn't just charting a future for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also fixing problems resulting from the "qualified mortgage" exemption for the GSEs and taking a "deep dive" into problems in the mortgage servicing market.

The administration official will serve a five-year term as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's chief regulator.