Combined operating expenses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac increased by $1.1 billion between 2012 and 2015, according to a recent Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Office of Inspector General white paper, and most of the costs were driven by FHFA’s mandated initiatives. After the IG published a paper in September 2015 criticizing the regulator for not properly approving the GSEs’ budgets, due to late timing and inadequate analysis and resources, the IG decided to trace the increases to detail who spent what and where the bulk of the spending went. Fannie witnessed the largest net increase of 31 percent or $726 million. The company’s expenses rose from $2.366 billion in 2012 to an estimated $3.092 billion...