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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, December 25, 2009

CEOs at mortgage giants could earn up to $6 million


By Jim Puzzanghera
Los Angeles Times

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser
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WASHINGTON — The chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac each could earn as much as $6 million this year and next, despite huge continued losses at the seized mortgage giants and a government bailout tab of more than $100 billion that the Obama administration said could rise even higher.

Fannie Mae Chief Executive Michael Williams will earn a base salary of $900,000 in 2009 and 2010, with deferred base salary of $3.1 million each year to be paid "only if the enterprise meets performance metrics" set by its board and subject to government review, according to filings yesterday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. An additional $2 million is possible annually, identified as "target incentive opportunity." Freddie Mac Chief Executive Charles E. Haldeman Jr. receives the same compensation package.

Four additional Fannie Mae executives will earn base salaries above $500,000 and have compensation packages for 2009 and 2010 that could pay each of them at least $2.7 million annually. One other Freddie Mac executive has a base salary over $500,000 and could earn up to $1.15 million a year.

Also yesterday, the administration said it was prepared to increase the maximum amount it would pay to bail out the troubled institutions.

The announcements are likely to provoke outrage in Congress, particularly among Republicans, who have charged that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused the housing boom and financial crisis with lax mortgage standards. Senators headed home for the holidays yesterday and House members were already out of town, limiting the initial reaction.

"The Obama administration's decision to write a blank check with taxpayer dollars for the continued bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is appalling," said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J. "Not only is this a continued bailout of failed entities that need to be privatized to protect the taxpayer, the timing of the announcement is clearly designed to try and sneak the bailout by the taxpayers."

The Treasury Department has pumped $60 billion into Fannie Mae and $51 billion into Freddie Mac in exchange for stock since federal officials seized them in September 2008 in one of the largest and most complex federal bailouts. Each company has a lifeline of as much as $200 billion, which administration officials said yesterday they would "increase as necessary" over the next three years as the companies continue to struggle.

The promise of additional money "should leave no uncertainty about the Treasury's commitment to support these firms as they continue to play a vital role in the housing market during this current crisis," the department said. Fannie Mae lost $18.9 billion from July through September, and a total of $56.9 billion this year. Freddie Mac lost $5 billion in the third quarter and $14.1 billion overall in 2009.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in March estimated that the total cost to taxpayers of the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ultimately would be $389 billion.

Garrett and other Republican critics have pushed for major reforms at the two companies, which were created as private, government-sponsored enterprises to provide liquidity to the mortgage industry by purchasing loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are vitally important to the housing market, with the agencies playing a role in funding about 75 percent of all new residential mortgages.

Republicans have complained that the Obama administration's proposed overhaul of financial regulations moving through Congress does not address Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Obama administration said yesterday it was "reviewing issues around longer-term reform of the federal government's role in the housing market." It expects to issue a preliminary report around the time Obama releases his 2011 budget in February.

The pay packages at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were designed in consultation with the Treasury Department and follow the compensation guidelines set out by Kenneth Feinberg, the administration's special master for executive compensation under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, said the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which has overseen the companies since federal officials seized them.

Those guidelines limit base salary and move more compensation into deferred stock and other incentives tied to a company's longer term performance. But the guidelines do not apply to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose bailout is not funded by TARP.

The FHFA said that total compensation for executives at the two is down 40 percent in 2009 from the levels before the companies were seized.

"Policymakers ultimately will need to determine the future of the enterprises and the future structure of our housing finance system. As this debate progresses, it will be essential that the enterprises continue to perform their current role," said FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco. "The enterprises must attract and retain the talent needed to accomplish these objectives."