Fannie Hires MBA's Duncan

Doug Duncan is moving to Fannie Mae after serving as the Mortgage Bankers Association's chief economist for the past 15 years. Mr. Duncan will be filling Fannie's chief economist chair, which has been vacant since David Berson retired in October and became the top economist for mortgage insurer PMI. "Over the past 15 years, Doug has built a smart and talented team that has driven MBA's growth and success in the data and research field," MBA president and chief executive Jonathan Kempner said. But his expertise and counsel will be "sorely missed," Mr. Kempner added. Last year, the MBA initially downplayed the significant of rising subprime defaults and tried to calm fears that those problems would spill over to the prime mortgage market or affect the overall economy.