Mortgage, Bailouts | featured news

Fannie Mae earned $17.2 billion last year, the biggest annual profit in the U.S. mortgage giant's history, helped by a record fourth quarter.

The government-backed mortgage financier said it made a profit in the first quarter and that it does not need additional bailout money — a first since the federal government took it over in 2008.

U.S. mortgage giant Fannie Mae made money in the first three months of the year and is not seeking additional federal aid. It's the first time the company has reported a net income gain since it was taken over by the government during the 2008 financial crisis....

The federal regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said it would eliminate performance-based bonuses for senior executives at the two mortgage-finance firms.

Mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac FMCC.OB said on Monday it would ask for an additional $1.5 billion from taxpayers due to losses stemming from the weak housing market.

American International Group, the insurer that sold off several major units in its effort to repay its 2008 bailout, plans to keep its once-troubled but now rapidly growing mortgage-insurance unit.

Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae said it would ask for an additional $5.1 billion from taxpayers as it continues to suffer losses on loans made prior to 2009.

A federal watchdog criticized federal regulators' oversight of executive pay packages for top officials at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a report published Thursday. The top six executives at the mortgage giants earned $35 million in the last two years, according to the report from the inspector general of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates the mortgage giants.

The Obama administration on Friday released its long-awaited proposal for overhauling the mortgage market, calling for gradually shutting down bailed-out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and reducing the government's now huge role in housing finance.

The mortgage-finance company warned that foreclosure delays could lead to higher costs, as it asked the Treasury to provide a $2.5 billion infusion.