IG Prods Fannie and Freddie to Pay Closer Attention to Counterparty Risk
September 20, 2012
The Federal Housing Finance Agency is pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to devise contingency plans to address the potential meltdown of their business partners. The government-sponsored enterprises which are themselves still in business under the conservatorship of the FHFA had placed over 300 high-risk counterparties on watch lists as of the third quarter of 2011, according to a new report by the FHFA Office of Inspector General. The failures of four companies that do business with the GSEs have cost them some $6.1 billion since 2008, and they estimated they still have some $7.2 billion in exposure to high-risk counterparties. The OIG wants...