Fannie and Freddie’s regulator is reportedly considering an attempt to end government control over the mortgage giants before Joe Biden enters the White House
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been kept in conservatorship limbo for over a decade now. But the Trump administration may move to end that before leaving office in January.
In the wake of the government bailouts of Fannie Mae FNMA, +4.29% and Freddie Mac FMCC, +3.61%, the housing-finance giants were placed into conservatorship. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, a new regulator, was created to oversee the two companies’ operations as the companies recovered from the subprime-mortgage crisis and repaid the federal government.
In that time, Fannie and Freddie’s shareholders — other than the federal government — have gone without even a single dividend payment. For most of this time, Fannie and Freddie’s profits have been swept to the Treasury Department.
Jacob Passy | MarketWatch