FHFA Pushes Back on OIG Counterparty Recommendation
December 12, 2014
The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued an advisory bulletin last week detailing the GSEs’ responsibilities for managing counterparty risks. FHFA Advisory Bulletin 2014-07 states that each enterprise should “assess financial, operational, legal, compliance, and reputation risks associated with its single-family seller/servicer counterparties and take appropriate action to mitigate those risks or reduce the enterprise’s exposure. Toward this end, each enterprise should implement a board-approved risk management framework that specifically includes risk-based oversight of single-family seller/servicers.”Anne Canfield, executive director of the Consumer Mortgage Coalition, said the bulletin could relate to an audit report released in September by the FHFA’s Office of Inspector General. The OIG report directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to assess the cost/benefit of a risk-based approach ...