Risk

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.

An emerging gap between the government-sponsored enterprises on a Federal Housing Finance Agency scorecard item is prompting Fannie Mae to diversify its multifamily credit risk transfer efforts.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is planning on finalizing its proposed capital requirements for the government-sponsored enterprises this summer, the agency's acting director said Wednesday.

While reinsurers are becoming more comfortable with the risk it is offloading, the GSE wants to maintain control of the workout process for loans that go bad.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed barring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from using credit scores developed by VantageScore over concern about conflicts of interest with the joint venture of Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

The amount of debt owed by businesses and the valuations of corporations are elevated, creating a growing source of concern, the Federal Reserve said Wednesday.

The proposal by Fannie and Freddie’s regulator to impose bank-like capital requirements would be relevant only if the companies leave conservatorship. But that hasn’t stopped lenders from requesting changes.

The unique approach Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are each taking with their credit-risk transfer products is quickly becoming a key point of differentiation that's rekindling competition between the government-sponsored enterprises.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac transferred a substantial amount of credit risk to the private sector through both single-family and multifamily market transactions in the first half of the year, with activity expected to rise in 2019, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

When the mortgage giant will be released from government control is anyone's guess, but the company's third-quarter report shows signs of an easier transition.