Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac soared on a double whammy of good news for investors: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying he would soon reach a deal to allow the mortgage giants to retain earnings and a legal victory that gave shareholders renewed hope of getting their hands on some of the companies billions of dollars in profits.
Mnuchin, speaking in a Monday interview with Fox Business, said Treasury is “in the process of negotiating with” the Federal Finance Housing Agency, Fannie and Freddie’s regulator. “We expect a near-term agreement to retain their earnings,” he said. The step, which will allow Fannie and Freddie to build up their capital buffers, is considered essential to the companies eventually being released from federal control.
For Fannie and Freddie to hold on to their earnings, Treasury and FHFA would have to halt or revamp a controversial policy implemented during the Obama administration that requires the companies to send virtually all their profits to the Treasury. Hedge funds and other investors that own Fannie and Freddie shares have long fought to end the sweep through litigation. Mnuchin’s remarks, combined with an important legal victory last week, gave shareholders renewed hope of making a windfall.
Fannie jumped 23% to $3.32 as of 9:52 am in New York trading, the biggest one-day gain since Jan. 18. Freddie rose 21% to $3.12.
Mnuchin, in the Fox Business interview, said his goal is for Fannie and Freddie to start retaining profits as soon as this month.
His remarks come after Treasury released a Sept. 5 report that laid out dozens of suggested reforms to protect Fannie and Freddie from another housing crash, shrinking their dominant market shares and creating new competitors to the companies that backstop about $5 trillion of home loans. Yet, it is only an initial step in what still would be a long and arduous road to freeing the companies from the government’s grip.
The Treasury Department’s proposal left much to be ironed out, signaling many of the suggested changes may not come until after the 2020 presidential election. And if a Democrat beats Trump next year, the overhaul would likely be scrapped all together.
Mnuchin said Monday that while he hopes to work with Congress to implement changes to Fannie and Freddie over the next three to six months, he is “perfectly comfortable” making administrative fixes if necessary. Only Congress can create competitors to Fannie and Freddie, a key goal of the Treasury report. But there is much the Trump administration can do on its own with FHFA, including ending the profit sweep.
Fannie and Freddie were put into federal conservatorship in 2008 as the housing market cratered and were sustained by taxpayer aid. They have since returned to profitability and paid $115 billion more in dividends to the Treasury than they received in bailout funds. At present the companies are restricted to holding $3 billion of capital apiece, far less than what would be needed to endure another housing crash.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investors won a big victory in their long battle to reap benefits from their stakes in the mortgage giants with a court ruling letting them pursue claims that the U.S. sweep of the companies’ earnings is illegal.