Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[observer21]

Not if he's serving in his appointment illegally....

Otting’s Appointment at FHFA May Be Illegal
By Dennis Hollier

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Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting has served as acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency for just shy of four weeks. But there’s one problem: His appointment may be illegal.

In a joint letter dated Jan. 25, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, ranking minority member of the Senate Banking Committee, raised serious questions about the legitimacy of the appointment.

At issue, according to Waters and Brown, is whether President Trump’s appointment of Otting followed the rules of the 2008 Housing and Economic Recovery Act, which created FHFA. They wrote: “We are concerned that President Trump has chosen not to select an acting director using the process Congress outlined in HERA.”

The language in HERA is clear on the matter. It states that, in the absence of a director, the president “shall designate” an acting director from among the agency’s three deputy directors. For more details, see the new edition of Inside Mortgage Finance.

Other areas of interest: Originations, Servicing, Secondary/MBS, Personnel, Regulatory, Fannie, Freddie, GSEs