GSE reform

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.

With prospects for government-sponsored enterprise reform improving, players in the private residential mortgage-backed securities market are starting to think about how they could better compete against the GSEs while awaiting change.

His administration is looking at different alternatives to reform the housing finance system.

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.

Freddie Mac will keep building on the financial reforms that produced profitability during conservatorship as broader government-sponsored enterprise proposals take shape, according to departing CEO Don Layton.

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.