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Inside The GSEs

March 25, 2009

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Fair Value Moves Could Spell Big Relief

An industry initiative to prod the Financial Accounting Standards Board to apply its revised guidance on fair value and market value accounting on a retrospective basis, and not prospectively, could provide a substantial amount of balance sheet relief for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. “On Oct. 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission told the FASB to handle this... Read More

Seattle, Chicago FHLBs Grapple with OTTI

The Federal Home Loan Banks of Seattle and Chicago both stand to benefit substantially from some accounting guidance related to market value being revised by the Financial Accounting Standards Board. Earlier this month, the FHLBank of Seattle reported a $304.2 million “other-than-temporary impairment” charge on its non-agency mortgage-backed securities portfolio, even though it projected... Read More

GSEs Eyed as a Solution to Warehouse Lending Woes

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks may have a key role to play in picking the warehouse lending business up off the mat, according to mortgage bankers involved in the discussions.Industry representatives are working with policymakers to come up with some sort of federal defibrillator that can jump-start a segment of the mortgage finance market that has seen its capacity... Read More

Short Sale Resolutions at GSEs Growing Rapidly

Short sale resolutions at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for troubled borrowers grew by a factor of four over the course of 2008, while loan modifications doubled and completed foreclosures grew by 60 percent through October, according to statistics recently released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency. The GSEs processed 516 short sales in January 2008; by December 2008 short sales numbered 2,261... Read More

GSEs Face Bailout Assault From Multiple Directions

The national political rage being expressed toward financial industry executives whose companies received federal financial assistance may inadvertently drive out key personnel at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which in turn could undercut the efforts underway to help struggling homeowners keep out of foreclosure and otherwise boost the housing and credit markets. Last week, “AIG rage” seized... Read More

Fed Swings for the Fences to Support Agency MBS

The U.S. government continues to bolster its support of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and to a lesser extent, Ginnie Mae and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks. Last week, the Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee decided to boost its support of the housing agencies substantially, committing to buy as much as $750 billion more of agency mortgage-backed securities, and as much as $100... Read More

FHFA Working on New Affordable Housing Goals

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is developing new affordable housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and is preparing to release a draft proposal for public input. “At this time, FHFA is preparing a draft for public comment on affordable housing goals for the coming year,” FHFA General Counsel Alfred Pollard told attendees at a briefing last week by the... Read More

Advances Off Nearly 10% by Top Bank, Thrift Users

The use of Federal Home Loan Bank advances by the top 40 bank and thrift users slipped 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from the same period in the prior year, according to the latest ranking and analysis by Inside The GSEs. The findings show the slowdown in advance use that began in the first quarter of 2008 gained momentum as the difficult year for the industry... [Includes one chart] Read More

News In Brief

Might Terms of Fannie, Freddie Backstops Be Changing?: The Treasury Department under President Barack Obama recently pledged to... Fannie, Freddie Targeted By Full Disclosure Legislation: Despite the fact that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac already disclose an... Freddie Mac Lost More Money Last Year Than it Ever Made: The bloodletting of Freddie Mac continued unabated in the fourth quarter, with the... Read More

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