Mel Watt

Under the Federal Housing Finance Agency's plan, small Home Loan banks would face a new housing benchmark and a volume threshold for meeting the goals would be eliminated.

In a surreal echo of the Kavanaugh-Ford hearing, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mel Watt and an employee he is accused of harassing, Simone Grimes, testified before a House panel about the allegations.

As the House Financial Services Committee prepares to hold a hearing Thursday on oversight of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the exact focus of the hearing remains somewhat in flux.

The agency’s director has been under pressure to quit as he is investigated for sexual harassment allegations, but an agency spokesperson says he still plans to testify at a housing finance hearing slated for later this month.

Freddie Mac is promoting Executive Vice President David Brickman to president and will consider him among possible candidates to be the agency's next CEO after Don Layton retires next year.

Maybe political winds or another downturn will spark housing finance reform. But 10 years after the conservatorships began, the companies are still in perpetual limbo.

The agency said the market for larger rental investors may not need additional liquidity from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The employee who made sexual harassment allegations against the agency’s director also claims Watt withheld her pay increase after she refused his advances.

Top U.S. housing regulator Mel Watt is privately reassuring people close to him that he will keep his post as authorities investigate an employee's claims of sexual harassment. Now, his accuser is heightening the pressure — speaking out publicly for the first time.

The regulator of the government-sponsored enterprises has substantial authority to intervene as a legislative stalemate continues.

The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled an FHFA oversight hearing for September in the wake of waste, fraud and abuse allegations.

The mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to draw as much as $78 billion in the event of a serious economic crisis, according to stress test results released Tuesday by the housing regulator.

The biggest impact may be to focus the administration’s efforts on selecting a nominee to succeed Director Mel Watt, whose term ends in January.

Mel Watt's term as director of Federal Housing Finance Agency ends in January, but his exit may be accelerated if the accusations in a new report prove true.

Politico reported Friday that the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is being accused by an employee of making inappropriate sexual advances.

Whoever succeeds current Director Mel Watt will have a front-and-center role in efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

With ruling in GSE case, the two agencies are emerging as the test subjects for a legal showdown over their authority.

A federal appeals court in Texas agreed with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shareholders that the FHFA, led by a single director, violates the separation of powers.

The groups applauded a proposal to establish minimum GSE capital requirements, but called for more immediate steps to release the companies from conservatorship.

No plan will be implemented as long as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in conservatorship, but a capital framework for the companies could still have a substantive impact.