REFinBlog

Editor: David Reiss
Brooklyn Law School

December 20, 2017

Are The Stars Aligning For Fannie And Freddie Reform?

By David Reiss

Law360 published my op ed, Are The Stars Aligning For Fannie And Freddie Reform? It reads, There has been a lot of talk of the closed-door discussions in the Senate about a reform plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mammoth housing … Continue reading

November 29, 2017

Another FHFA Win Against Shareholders

By David Reiss

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion in Robinson v. FHFA et al. (No. 16-6680, Nov. 22, 2017) that is another win for the federal government in the fight with shareholders over Fannie and Freddie’s profits. … Continue reading

November 10, 2017

How Important Is Skin in The Game?

By David Reiss

Haoyang Liu has posted a paper to SSRN that challenges the effectiveness of skin-in-the-game market discipline: Does Skin-in-the-Game Discipline Risk Management? Evidence from Mortgage Insurance. The abstract reads, Many mortgage reform proposals suggest replacing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) … Continue reading

October 27, 2017

Fannie and Freddie Visit the Supreme Court

By David Reiss

Fannie and Fredddie investors have filed their petition for a writ of certiorari in Perry Capital v. Mnuchin. The question presented is Whether 12 U.S.C. § 4617(f), which prohibits courts from issuing injunctions that “restrain or affect the exercise of … Continue reading

October 4, 2017

FHFA’s Strategic Plan for Fannie and Freddie

By David Reiss

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released its Strategic Plan for fiscal years 2018-2022 for public input. As discussed in yesterday’s post, Director Watt is very focused on maintaining the health of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Strategic Plan reiterates … Continue reading

October 3, 2017

Watt’s Happening with Fannie and Freddie?

By David Reiss

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Watt testified before the House Committee on Financial Services today and gave a good overview of the decade-long conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie.  He also gave some sense of the urgency of coming up with … Continue reading

September 27, 2017

Fannie, Freddie and Climate Change

By David Reiss

The Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute issued its September 2017 Housing Finance At A Glance Chartbook. The introduction asks what the recent hurricanes tell us about GSE credit risk transfer. But it also has broader implications regarding … Continue reading