GSE reform

The White House said that Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting will serve as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency beginning Jan. 6, after Director Mel Watt’s term ends.

The Trump administration wants to work with Congress on freeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government control, though it's considering pursuing some changes on its own, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday.

The White House confirmed that it plans to nominate Mark Calabria as the next director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

The administration’s reported interest in having the White House aide run Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's regulator signals a focus on constraining the mortgage giants’ role in the housing market.

Reps. Lacy Clay and Emanuel Cleaver, both from Missouri, have shown interest in running the panel that could be a focal point in efforts to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Democrat, who will likely head the Financial Services Committee, has signaled she'll make expanded housing opportunities for lower-income consumers a top priority.

Private-label residential mortgage-backed securitization is approaching a post-crisis high, according to Kroll Bond Rating Agency.

The proposal by Fannie and Freddie’s regulator to impose bank-like capital requirements would be relevant only if the companies leave conservatorship. But that hasn’t stopped lenders from requesting changes.

The end of one-party rule in Washington could move the needle on efforts to devise a new housing finance framework.

A U.S. regulator's plan to boost capital in the mortgage-finance giants won't work unless investors get "compensated" for the billions of dollars the government has collected from the companies in recent years, one shareholder said.

The revised blueprint by Moelis & Co. LLC incorporates a pending regulatory capital plan for the mortgage giants.

The presumptive chair of the House Financial Services Committee will likely take the panel in a sharply new direction and have a new bully pulpit to criticize the Trump administration.

The unique approach Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are each taking with their credit-risk transfer products is quickly becoming a key point of differentiation that's rekindling competition between the government-sponsored enterprises.

The housing finance agency, which is increasingly at the forefront of reform discussions, has been without a permanent chief for almost two years.

Donald Layton, who has run the mortgage giant since 2012, discussed the busy agenda leading up to his departure and says Freddie can serve as a "technical adviser" in GSE reform talks.

As the housing market enters a new era, shifts in the demand for mortgages will ultimately dictate the direction of technology, staffing and GSE reform.

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 CEOs of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are stepping down because the job they were hired to do — return the GSEs to profitability — is done. But attracting top-flight candidates to lead the mortgage giants into a new phase may not be easy.

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.

The federal conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was never supposed to be permanent. Leaving the situation unresolved keeps the agencies undercapitalized and taxpayers exposed to their risk.