FINANCIAL TIMES: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will pay all of their earnings to the taxpayer as part of a package of measures to wind down the troubled mortgage finance agencies more rapidly…
Both mortgage agencies suffered heavy losses during the financial crisis and are now effectively owned by the taxpayer after the Treasury bailed them out. Both US political parties want to reduce the role of taxpayers in the mortgage market although the final shape of a housing finance reform remains unclear.
As part of the announced changes, the Treasury will require the two agencies to reduce their investment portfolios of mortgages more rapidly, selling them down at a rate of 15 per cent a year instead of 10 per cent.… (more)
