Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

[navycmdr]

Calabria GSE ‘Corporate Culture’ Remark Comes Under Scrutiny

Thurs Oct 1, 2020 - [e-mail]





Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria raised eyebrows late last month while testifying before the House Financial Service Committee when he described Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as having “what I would consider some of the worst corporate cultures I’ve ever seen in corporate America.”

The regulator’s comment, which didn’t seem to be in response to any particular question, failed to provoke any follow-up from committee members, but it didn’t take long for tongues to start wagging in the mortgage industry when news of the remark began to percolate.

Officially, of course, neither Fannie nor Freddie would comment.

Speaking on background, though, at least one executive at the
enterprises confessed to being taken aback by the criticism,
claiming that they weren’t aware of any recent events that might
have provoked the director.

This official speculated that perhaps Calabria was referring to
the companies’ corporate culture before the financial crisis,
when the politically connected secondary market giants were
widely feared on Capitol Hill.