The timing “may well depend upon how the polls look for Donald Trump and on which Democrat emerges as the nominee,” Seiberg said. If polls show the Democrat’s eventual nominee as beating Trump, it may speed up the privatization of Fannie and Freddie, he said. The pace of the so-called “recap and release” of the GSEs will depend on Trump’s outlook for re-election, Jaret Seiberg, managing director of Cowen Group, said in a note to clients on Friday. 6, a day after Treasury released a proposal on reforming housing finance that included a plan to end the sweep, investors who hold shares of Fannie and Freddie won a key court ruling.Ī panel of federal appeals court judges in New Orleans (the Fifth Circuit) said they could pursue claims that the government’s profit seizures were illegal.
#FREDDIE MAC FANNIE MAE FORECLOSURES PLUS#
Since then, their profits have repaid the $191 billion in bailouts they received, plus they’ve sent an additional $115 billion to Treasury. “It will just look a little bit safer, and I think that’s appropriate, especially given where we are in the housing cycle.”įannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government in 2008 during the financial crisis. “The major footprint will look the same,” Calabria said.
He said he sees “some very modest reductions in risk.” “We’ve not settled on a final number, but we’re in the neighborhood and we’re close, and I’m very hopeful that will get done by the end of the month,” Calabria said.Ĭalbria said he doesn’t plan major changes to the types of loans Fannie and Freddie can buy from lenders once they are private companies. Since 2013, the companies have been required to send almost all their profits to the government in a so-called “net-worth sweep.” Calabria said he remains on track to reach an agreement with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin within the next two weeks to end the sweep. Of course, they don’t have a chance of hitting the goalposts until they’re allowed to retain their earnings and build up capital. And if President Trump gets re-elected, then there should be no real risk of a disruption.” “To us, it will be difficult for Democrats to stop this process even if they win in November. “There will be an election between the issuance of the consent orders and the enterprises becoming well-capitalized,” Seiberg said. The process of releasing the companies from conservatorship won’t be stopped by the election of a new president if the FHFA has consent orders in place, Seiberg said. “The consent order, however, will maintain FHFA’s control over the enterprises until they are well-capitalized.” “Next step, in our view, is for FHFA to issue consent orders that will automatically remove each enterprise from conservatorship once they hit the minimum capital level that the capital rule requires,” Seiberg said. After regulators seized them, they were kicked off the NYSE and their share prices tumbled to around 50 cents by the end of 2008. Prior to the government takeover in 2008, shares of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac traded above $68. The “offering” would be the 80% of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held by the federal government since 2008. Fannie Mae began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1968, and Freddie Mac began trading on the same exchange in 1989. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the nation’s largest mortgage financiers, were seized by regulators in 2008, in the midst of the financial crisis.įor the record, while the process of selling shares to the public is referring to as an “initial public offering,” or IPO, it would be a second go-round for both companies. Naming the investment bank to start the underwriting process for the companies known as government-sponsored enterprises is the first major step in releasing them from conservatorship. We expect the enterprises to hire financial advisers this spring.” “We believe the agency in February will publish the proposed capital rules. “Our expectation is that FHFA in the coming few weeks will announce its financial adviser,” Seiberg said in a note to investors obtained by HousingWire. The watchdog for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has been interviewing advisory firms to handle the public offerings of their shares and is likely to announce a name within the next few weeks, according to Jaret Seiberg, managing director of Cowen Washington Research Group.