Freddie CEO Promises More Disclosure

In his first major speech to the investment banking community, Freddie Mac's new chief executive has promised that the mortgage giant will "foster an open culture" at the company and overhaul its disclosure practices.At a private luncheon closed to the news media, CEO Greg Parseghian promised equity analysts that, "You are going to hear it from us straight -- whether we have a great year or a bad year -- and we're going to tell you why it happened." Mr. Parseghian was named CEO 60 days ago after the company's board ousted its three top officers in the wake of an accounting scandal. A copy of the speech was provided to MortgageWire Wednesday morning, a few hours before Mr. Parseghian was set to deliver it. In the prepared speech, Mr. Parseghian promised, among other things, that Freddie Mac will rectify "each and every accounting policy issue" identified in the so-called Doty Report, an internal investigation into its accounting problems. Freddie Mac has also hired the law firm of Covington & Burling to help it benchmark its disclosure processes. (See the Aug. 11 issue of National Mortgage News for complete details.) Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.