Fannie Mae, which is struggling through an $11 billion accounting scandal, on Wednesday afternoon named one of its own, interim CEO Daniel Mudd, to be its permanent chief executive and president. The appointment by Fannie's board drew immediate praise from acting Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight director Stephen Blumenthal who said Mr. Mudd has "played a key role in the transformation of Fannie Mae and I look forward to continuing the development of a strong, constructive relationship between Fannie Mae and OFHEO." National Mortgage News reported two weeks ago that Mr. Mudd was actively lobbying for the job and it was between him and one or two other commercial banking executives. Promoted from vice chairman/chief operating officer, Mr. Mudd became the interim head of the mortgage giant in late December when Fannie's board forced out its politically well connected chairman and CEO Franklin Raines. Some in the industry expressed surprise that the board would name Mr. Mudd because he served in Fannie's office of the chairman along with Mr. Raines. GSE critic Bert Ely said in a statement, "However qualified Dan Mudd may be to run Fannie Mae, his appointment this afternoon as Fannie's new CEO is, at the least, incredibly, naively impolitic. At worst, it represents the height of political arrogance that may come back to haunt Fannie, and Freddie, too, as Congress continues to masticate...on GSE regulatory reform legislation."
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The increasing frequency and severity of droughts was top of mind for panelists at AmeriCatalyst's "Going to Extremes" conference Thursday.
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In a Senate hearing, Director Sandra Thompson said a raise to the required income threshold provided to affordable housing was on the table, while housing regulators also faced questions related to property insurance hikes and title insurance waivers.
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The nonpayment rate for non-qualified mortgages is up 21 basis points from February and 134 basis points from March 2023, Morningstar DBRS said.
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The government mortgage-bond guarantor will require additional information on foreclosure prevention actions, and retire some forbearance reporting.
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But views are split, at least in the near-term on whether rising mortgage rates are holding back the Spring home purchase season.
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The top five producers had an average dollar volume of FHA loans of more than $50 million in 2023.
April 18