FINANCIAL TIMES: Fannie Mae, the US mortgage behemoth rescued during the 2008 financial crisis, will pay a $59.4bn dividend to the US Treasury, raising the prospect that taxpayers will soon receive a profit from the bailout…
Its results came a day after Freddie Mac posted the second-best quarterly profit in its history and said total dividends to the Treasury would reach $36.6bn by June, compared with its bailout of $71.3bn.
The payouts could recast the political calculus over the future of Fannie and Freddie as the Obama administration tries to install a new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates the two groups. Mel Watt, who has long argued for government support for affordable housing, was nominated last week but is opposed by some Republican lawmakers… (more)
