Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

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Here's what little bit of info I could dig up on Bob Ryan in relation to his stance on GSE reform. This comes from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) website, with text quoted from a housing reform forum co-hosted by Bipartisan Policy Center and Zillow on 10/24/2013.

While Eric Stein prefers the mutual option, Bob Ryan prefers a shareholder approach. At least we have evened out the viewpoint on that issue.

video link: http://www.zillow.com/education/HousingForum/
text link to quotes: http://www.sifma.org/members/hearings.aspx?id=8589945900

"Timiraos then asked what in the system is broken and should be addressed first. Bob Ryan, Wells Fargo, said he would operate on the premise that some things do not need to be fixed, noting that the qualified mortgage (QM) rules have done a lot to constrain “out of control underwriting” and improve credit standards. The problem during the crisis, he said, was that there was not enough capital to absorb losses, and suggested that minimum capital requirements be determined by regulators not through legislative actions. He added that “more completion” should be introduced into the market by forming a single security and that a regulator should be allowed to charter other guarantors."

...

When asked if new guarantor entities should be owned by private shareholders or arranged in a mutual or co-op structure, Ryan said he preferred the shareholder option, while Pollock said there is “something to think about” in a mutually owned structure.

On the problem of capitalizing issuers and guarantors, Ryan said that it is “not clear” who will come in and provide capital thus making the transition period to any new system critical. Gold followed up saying that this problem of not knowing where the capital will come from is more reason to reform the current structure which has been in place for 70 years, rather than create an entirely new system."