The why and how of GSE reform

The debate on how to reform the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that now so dominate US mortgage finance has been raging almost from the minute they were taken into conservatorship by former Federal Housing Finance Authority director James Lockhart on September 6 2008. In recent months, however, there is a growing sense that all those words might eventually translate into action.

This is largely the result of the actions of two senators from opposite sides of the political divide. In late June, Tennessee Republican Bob Corker and Virginia Democrat Mark Warner introduced a bill in the Senate that proposed the winding down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the next five years and their replacement with a Federal Mortgage Insurance Corporation. No less than 10% of the first loss on the securitizations covered by the FMIC will be taken by the private sector.

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