Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities remained a preferred investment for the Federal Home Loan Banks during the first quarter of 2011 with only a negligible decrease from the previous quarter, according to a new analysis and ranking by Inside The GSEs based on data from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.Meanwhile, Ginnie Mae securities continued to grow in popularity within the FHLBank system during the first three months of this year. GSE MBS still accounted for 66.7 percent of combined FHLBank MBS portfolios. The Finance Agency’s data do not separately break out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac volume or share. Ginnie MBS grew by... [Includes one data chart]

The Government Accountability Office noted there is a little room for improvement in the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s internal controls and accounting procedures but the Finance Agency is otherwise operating well. Mandated by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the GAO said its audit of the FHFA’s fiscal years 2010 and 2009 financial statements revealed deficiencies in the way the Finance Agency disposed of its information technology property and equipment. The GAO also found that the FHFA did not always verify vendor invoice amounts prior to payment. Although the two issues do not represent “material weaknesses or significant deficiencies” on an order that...

A proposed bipartisan House bill that would dissolve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac but retain an explicit government guarantee for certain mortgage-backed securities appears poised to go nowhere fast, despite vocal trade group support. Earlier this month, H.R. 1859, the Housing Finance Reform Act of 2011, was filed amid a splash of headlines by Rep. John Campbell, R-CA, and co-sponsor Rep. Gary Peters, D-MI. The bill would empower the Federal Housing Finance Agency to issue charters establishing privately held and funded housing finance guarantee associations. The associations would be empowered to deal in conventional mortgages only for the purpose of...

Testifying before the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Capital Markets and GSEs this week, the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency took issue with some of the proposed bills in the legislative package intended to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “I appreciate the effort in these and other bills to begin moving towards a final resolution of the enterprises in conservatorship, but I also recognize the critical and contemporaneous need to provide market participants with greater clarity and assurance about the ultimate role of the government in housing finance beyond the issues surrounding the enterprises,” said...

Recruitment and retention of executives and staff at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain a “principal risk management challenge” to the two GSEs, a problem that is likely only to worsen with time, according to Fannie and Freddie’s regulator. During a speech last week, Federal Housing Finance Agency Acting Director Edward DeMarco cited several recent key executive departures from both GSEs as a concern for both companies. “How does one preserve and conserve the value of a company’s human capital in the face of an uncertain future?” asked DeMarco. “For the duration of the conservatorships, I believe the best way to protect taxpayer interests in...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has gone to court in order to deal itself into a wrongful termination suit filed last year by a former Fannie Mae executive against the GSE. According to papers filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the FHFA sought a temporary stay of the lawsuit, citing its authority as Fannie’s conservator under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. “The conservator’s participation will aid the parties and the court in resolving the issues presented in this action, including the issue of Fannie Mae’s status vis-à-vis the federal government as it relates to the plaintiff’s claims,” said the Finance Agency in...

While federal agencies gather comments on a proposed rule to establish margin and capital requirements for various swap entities, experts say it’s not altogether clear how the proposed rule would apply to the GSEs. Final comments are due June 24 on a rule proposed by five federal agencies that would require swap entities regulated by the agencies to collect minimum amounts of initial margin and variation margin from counterparties to non-cleared swaps and non-cleared security-based swaps. The five agencies that issued the proposed rule last month are the Federal Reserve, the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp...

During testimony this week before the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, housing trade association representatives warned lawmakers that the current efforts to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac must not disrupt the already fragile housing and secondary mortgage markets. National Association of Home Builders First Vice Chairman Barry Rutenberg told Senators that Fannie and Freddie should neither be converted to government agencies nor should their functions be completely turned over to the private market. Instead. NAHB supports making major changes in the structure and operations of the secondary mortgage market not unlike...

Conventional conforming mortgage production took the heaviest hit in new lending during the first quarter as all four corners of the single-family originations market recorded sharp declines, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis. Originations of conventional mortgages that meet conforming loan limits sank 40.0 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010, hitting an estimated $213.0 billion. The conventional conforming market still had the biggest role in the market, accounting for 65.5 percent of new originations, but a sharp drop in refinance activity hit the sector hard. Government-insured lending was also... [Includes two data charts]