Like most GSE reform plans, the hedge funder’s plan to privatize Fannie and Freddie starts with Treasury writing down its senior preferred shares and FHFA sharply reducing the capital requirements for the GSEs.
Smaller shops may support an end to the GSE conservatorships, but only if it’s done in a way that preserves pricing parity, avoids additional charters and maintains the cash window.
Executives from Annaly and Two Harbors worry that ending the conservatorships of the GSEs could fundamentally change the buyer base for their mortgage-backed securities.
Responding to written questions from the Senate Banking Committee, Trump’s new Treasury secretary gave the mortgage industry limited insight into his views on GSE reform.
Treasury and FHFA agreed on some guidelines for how the process of getting the GSEs out of conservatorship will work. But they didn’t set that process in motion.