Changes

==Franklin Raines era==

==Franklin Raines era==

===Fannie Mae lowers guidelines for subprime borrowers 1999===

===Fannie Mae lowers guidelines for subprime borrowers 1999===

:''Main article:'' [[Community Reinvestment Act]]

:''Main article:'' [[Community Reinvestment Act]]

In 1999 Fannie Mae lowered its underwriting guidelines to expand into the subprime lending market,<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending,] Steven A. Holmes, ''New York Times'', September 30, 1999.</ref> a widely held contributing factor to the [[Financial crisis of 2008|Financial crisis of 2007-08]].

In 1999 Raines' Fannie Mae lowered its underwriting guidelines to expand into the subprime lending market,<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/business/fannie-mae-eases-credit-to-aid-mortgage-lending.html Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending,] Steven A. Holmes, ''New York Times'', September 30, 1999.</ref> a widely held contributing factor to the [[Financial crisis of 2008|Financial crisis of 2007-08]].

A strategic alliance forged at the same time between Countrywide Mortgage and Fannie Mae linked the growth of the two companies. The agreement was unique – there was not a general industry practice of giving a volume discount to a mortgage originator. In 2005, the two companies agreed to work together to expand lending to low-income borrowers.<ref>[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Foversight.house.gov%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F07%2FCountrywide-112th-Report-7.3.12-1207-PM.pdf&ei=BAw1UdSkKKXhyQHlg4BY&usg=AFQjCNE-SVDLajjQNZyjxsZGuBXxtlqO-g&sig2=YCxVZiHOe405Ru8bRNY_gw&bvm=bv.43148975,d.aWc How Countrywide Used its VIP Loan Program To Influence Washington Policymakers,] House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 5, 2012, pp. 74-76.</ref> Countrywide originated 20% of all subprime mortgages in the United States – an amount equal to 3.5% of U.S. [[GDP]]. Former [[DNC]] Chairman [[Christopher Dodd]] who headed up the Senate Banking Committee tasked with oversight of Fannie Mae and Countrywide did nothing to assess the risks to the financial system or curb the deal.

A strategic alliance forged at the same time between Countrywide Mortgage and Fannie Mae linked the growth of the two companies. The agreement was unique – there was not a general industry practice of giving a volume discount to a mortgage originator. In 2005, the two companies agreed to work together to expand lending to low-income borrowers.<ref>[http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Foversight.house.gov%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F07%2FCountrywide-112th-Report-7.3.12-1207-PM.pdf&ei=BAw1UdSkKKXhyQHlg4BY&usg=AFQjCNE-SVDLajjQNZyjxsZGuBXxtlqO-g&sig2=YCxVZiHOe405Ru8bRNY_gw&bvm=bv.43148975,d.aWc How Countrywide Used its VIP Loan Program To Influence Washington Policymakers,] House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, July 5, 2012, pp. 74-76.</ref> Countrywide originated 20% of all subprime mortgages in the United States – an amount equal to 3.5% of U.S. [[GDP]]. Former [[DNC]] Chairman [[Christopher Dodd]] who headed up the Senate Banking Committee tasked with oversight of Fannie Mae and Countrywide did nothing to assess the risks to the financial system or curb the deal.

===Stiglitz and Orszag hired to calm fears===

===Stiglitz and Orszag hired to calm fears===

As worries about Fannie Mae's overexposure for securitizing nearly $1 trillion in debt grew, Raines's Fannie Mae hired Economist [[Joseph Stiglitz]], former Clinton Special Assistant for Economic Policy [[Peter Orszag]], and the Managing Director of their firm Jonathan Orszag to write a paper to calm fears. The conclusion made the fantastic claim that Fannie Mae's chance of insolvency were 1 in 500,000:

As worries about Fannie Mae's overexposure for securitizing nearly $1 trillion in debt grew, Raines' Fannie Mae hired Economist [[Joseph Stiglitz]], former Clinton Special Assistant for Economic Policy [[Peter Orszag]], and the Managing Director of their firm Jonathan Orszag to write a paper to calm fears. The conclusion made the fantastic claim that Fannie Mae's chance of insolvency were 1 in 500,000:

{{QuoteBox|...the probability of a shock as severe as embodied in the risk-based capital standard is substantially less than one in 500,000 – and may be smaller than one in three million. Given the low probability of the stress test shock occurring, and assuming that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold sufficient capital to withstand that shock, the exposure of the government to the risk that the GSEs [government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] will become insolvent appears quite low. <br><br>

{{QuoteBox|...the probability of a shock as severe as embodied in the risk-based capital standard is substantially less than one in 500,000 – and may be smaller than one in three million. Given the low probability of the stress test shock occurring, and assuming that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hold sufficient capital to withstand that shock, the exposure of the government to the risk that the GSEs [government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] will become insolvent appears quite low. <br><br>

===Fraudulent accounting exposed===

===Fraudulent accounting exposed===

Franklin Raines served as Fannie Mae's Vice Chairman from 1991 to 1996 when President [[Bill Clinton]]<ref>Bill Clinton appointed [[Rahm Emanuel]], later [[Obama]] Chief of Staff, to the Board of Directors of Fannie Mae's sister agency, Freddie Mac. Emanuel had no experience of qualifications for the position. Freddie Mac likewise was taken into conservatorship for mismanagement.</ref> recruited him to serve in the [[White House]] as Director of the [[Office of Management and Budget]]. In 1998 he returned to Fannie Mae as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). In 2004 the [[Securities & Exchange Commission]]'s (SEC) chief accountant ruled that Fannie had improperly accounted for hedging transactions in its trillion-dollar portfolio of derivatives.<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-12-21/franklin-rainess-lost-gamble Franklin Raines's Lost Gamble,] ''BloombergBusinessweek'', December 21, 2004. </ref> The SEC ordered it to restate it's earnings which were overstated by $11 billion. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight declared the company was "significantly undercapitalized" using Fannie's "own unique methodology" for valuing derivatives. At $28.86 billion, Fannie's core capital was $2.98 billion, or almost 10%, below the required minimum.

In 1998 Franklin Raines returned to Fannie Mae as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) after serving his stint as Clinton's budget director.  

The [[U.S Justice Department]] joined the investigation. Regulators found a culture of corruption under Raines where management reaped huge bonuses for themselves.<ref>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-05-24/business/0605240197_1_senior-management-manipulated-accounting-fannie-mae-executive-officer-franklin-raines `Arrogant and unethical': Fannie Mae to pay $400 million penalty,] Robert Manor, ''Chicago Tribune'', May 24, 2006.</ref> Auditors stated,

In 2004 the [[Securities & Exchange Commission]]'s (SEC) chief accountant ruled that Fannie had improperly accounted for hedging transactions in its trillion-dollar portfolio of derivatives.<ref>[http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2004-12-21/franklin-rainess-lost-gamble Franklin Raines's Lost Gamble,] ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', December 21, 2004. </ref> The SEC ordered it to restate it's earnings which were overstated by $11 billion. The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight declared the company was "significantly undercapitalized" using Fannie's "own unique methodology" for valuing derivatives. At $28.86 billion, Fannie's core capital was $2.98 billion, or almost 10%, below the required minimum. The [[U.S Justice Department]] joined the investigation.  

 

Regulators found a culture of corruption under Raines where management reaped huge bonuses for themselves.<ref>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2006-05-24/business/0605240197_1_senior-management-manipulated-accounting-fannie-mae-executive-officer-franklin-raines `Arrogant and unethical': Fannie Mae to pay $400 million penalty,] Robert Manor, ''Chicago Tribune'', May 24, 2006.</ref> Auditors stated,

{{Cquote|The image of Fannie Mae as one of the lowest-risk and `best in class' institutions was a facade...Our examination found an environment where the ends justified the means. Senior management manipulated accounting, reaped maximum, undeserved bonuses, and prevented the rest of the world from knowing.}}

{{Cquote|The image of Fannie Mae as one of the lowest-risk and `best in class' institutions was a facade...Our examination found an environment where the ends justified the means. Senior management manipulated accounting, reaped maximum, undeserved bonuses, and prevented the rest of the world from knowing.}}

The auditor's report stated executives moved profits from one year to the next to assure they would meet company goals to receive undeserved bonuses and accused Fannie Mae of taking large and sometimes unprofitable risks that were not revealed to investors. Raines was forced out. The auditors report was only the beginning of the revelations that shook the world.

The auditor's report stated executives moved profits from one year to the next to assure they would meet company goals to receive undeserved bonuses and accused Fannie Mae of taking large and sometimes unprofitable risks that were not revealed to investors. Raines was forced out. The auditors report was only the beginning of the revelations that shook the world.