Senate Confirms 3 Nominees

The Senate has confirmed the president's picks to head the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Ginnie Mae, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.By unanimous consent, the Senate cleared the way for Rob Couch to be the new Ginnie Mae president and Sheila Bair to be the new FDIC chairman. The Senate also confirmed James B. Lockhart, who has served as the acting OFHEO director for the past six weeks. Mr. Couch, a former Mortgage Bankers Association chairman (from October 2003 to October 2004), was the president of New South Federal Savings Bank, Birmingham, Ala. Ms. Bair served as Treasury assistant secretary for financial institutions during the first two years of the Bush administration. She resigned in 2002 to become a professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. The other banking regulators have been waiting for Ms. Bair's confirmation to begin drafting final underwriting guidance on interest-only and payment-option mortgages.