A Congressional Hearing on Fannie and IBM?

Plenty of executives in the industry are still trying to figure out what IBM is up to in the servicing space, a situation complicated by the fact that 'Big Blue' continues to keep the "cone of silence" (rent the old 'Get Smart' TV shows to understand that cultural reference) on whatever it's up to. The big unanswered question is this: is IBM buying MSRs or just subservicing? One servicing advisor told us that Big Blue actually has a joint venture with Fannie Mae regarding MSRs but since Fannie won't talk about the matter either it's all the subject of conjecture. (Remember a couple of years ago when Fannie wanted to buy Litton Loan Servicing? Goldman Sachs was going to be its partner on the deal until the Feds seized the GSE in September 2008.) Perhaps, a Congressional hearing might loosen some information. After all, Fannie is a ward of the government and is being supported by U.S. taxpayers. Maybe some of our elected officials are curious why a GSE is partnering with a profitable technology giant…