(Reuters) – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s regulator is pushing to speed up their exit from government control, but is yet to reach an agreement with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
U.S. housing finance regulator Mark Calabria is focused on taking back the home mortgage companies from government’s hands, but completing the procedure before U.S. President Donald Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20 is a long shot, and President-elect Joe Biden will most likely not continue the effort, according to the report.
Mnuchin is “supportive of locking in a path to private ownership”, but mindful of steps that could disrupt the housing-finance market, the report added, citing one person familiar with the effort. (https://on.wsj.com/3nAGqcO)
Mnuchin must agree to any move to alter the terms of either Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s bailout agreement or the government’s stakes.
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
