InfoBytes Blog
Calabria requests chartering authority, increase in FHFA powers
On June 11, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) issued its 2018 Report to Congress, which, in part, provides information regarding FHFA's oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) and describes FHFA actions as conservator the GSEs.
Most notably, in his letter to Congress introducing the report, FHFA Director Mark Calabria urged Congress to act on housing finance reform, noting that the conservatorship over the GSEs was “established as a short-term measure to address instability” during the financial crisis and now is of “unprecedented duration and scope.” Calabria encouraged Congress to work with the FHFA and the Administration to enact housing finance reform to ensure the GSEs are “well-capitalized, well-regulated, and well-managed to withstand any future downturn in the economy.” Additionally, Calabria requested that Congress provide FHFA with chartering authority similar to that of the OCC to increase competition in the secondary mortgage market. (As previously covered by InfoBytes here and here, Calabria and the Administration have encouraged housing finance reform that would end the GSE conservatorships and increase private sector participation in the mortgage market.) Lastly, Calabria argued for strengthening FHFA’s powers, similar to that of other federal financial safety and soundness regulators, including by granting the agency the authority to oversee third parties that do business with the GSEs, such as nonbank mortgage servicers.