Accounting

Fannie Mae's current tack could help it weather some of the new challenges confronting the government-sponsored enterprises, including the planned expiration of its qualified mortgage rule exemption and rate-driven earnings volatility.

The decision gives the vast majority of banks and credit unions another year to implement the controversial accounting method for loan losses.

The bipartisan House effort to delay the Current Expected Credit Loss standard comes less than a month after Republican senators introduced a similar bill.

Private mortgage insurers can help to ease banks' compliance burden when it comes to the Current Expected Credit Loss accounting standard, an industry executive said.

Democrats and Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee called for steps to minimize the harm to community banks and credit unions bracing for the new accounting standard.

Freddie Mac will keep building on the financial reforms that produced profitability during conservatorship as broader government-sponsored enterprise proposals take shape, according to departing CEO Don Layton.

Fannie Mae is considering sharing more risk with the private sector to reduce future strain on its earnings from the implementation of the Current Expected Credit Loss accounting standard next year.

Credit card issuers would have to set aside more in reserves because of higher loss histories, according to research by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods on the impact of the new loan-loss standard.

Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., told the mortgage giants' chief federal regulator that the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s new model for estimating loan losses could pose risk across the mortgage market.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may need to tap into U.S. Treasury funds when they adopt CECL, a new accounting rule that makes companies set aside money upfront for expected loan losses.