FHFA's Lockhart To Step Down Soon - Sources
August 05 2009 - 2:35PM
Dow Jones News
James B. Lockhart, the regulator for Fannie Mae (FNM) and
Freddie Mac (FRE), is stepping down after a three-year run in the
post that reached a climax last fall with the dramatic seizure of
the companies.
Lockhart, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, will
announce his resignation soon, people familiar with the matter said
Wednesday.
A high-school friend of former President George W. Bush,
Lockhart was a holdover from the Bush administration, where he also
served in top posts in the Social Security Administration.
Lockhart helped establish FHFA as the new regulator for the
mortgage giants after its predecessor, the Office of Federal
Housing Enterprise Oversight, was phased out by a 2008 housing law
that aimed to tighten oversight of Fannie and Freddie.
That effort was unexpectedly accelerated last fall when the
FHFA, along with the Treasury Department, threw Fannie and Freddie
into conservatorship amid fears the companies would collapse,
deepening the global financial crisis.
Lockhart sat alongside Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson at FHFA's Washington offices to
deliver the news to former Fannie Chief Executive Daniel Mudd and
Freddie CEO Richard Syron. The seizure cost both executives their
jobs.
Aside from supervising Fannie and Freddie, the FHFA has
oversight over the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks.
-By Jessica Holzer, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9228;
jessica.holzer@dowjones.com