Fannie Mae loses $ 11.5 billion in first quarter
The U.S. agency mortgage refinance Fannie Mae, which had a significant stake in the subprime crisis, said Monday in a loss of 11.5 billion dollars in the first quarter, and asked the federal Treasury to grant further 8.4 billion dollars by the end of June to offset its deficit. "Our first quarter results are due primarily to costs associated with credit, which remain high due to weaknesses in the economy and market américainde residential property," said Fannie Mae said in a statement.
The additional $ 8.4 billion requested to be added for an additional $ 15.3 billion already disbursed by the Treasury on March 31, intended to fill the deficit in December 31, 2009."Given the current trends in housing and financial markets, we continue to expect net deficits in the future, and therefore we will obtain additional funding from Treasury," the company said.
This aid, granted in exchange for preference shares held by U.S. taxpayers also costs for Fannie Mae, who had to pay first quarter dividend of $ 1.5 billion to the federal government, widening its quarterly loss Group share 13.1 billion.
The credit losses increased from the fourth quarter 2009 and first quarter 2010, from 4.1 to 5.1 billion, "reflecting the increased number of defaults, partially offset by a slight reduction in the magnitude of these losses, "the company said.
The rate of seizures has increased in the first quarter, Fannie Mae said: macroeconomic conditions and "the protracted decline in prices of residential property at the national level continue to lead to an increasing proportion of our loans go from being of default than before.
And given the minimum time for them to sell foreclosed properties (unfinished evictions, repairs, legal deadlines to allow property owners to eventually settle their debts to stay home ..), the body just to put on the market properties seizures, delaying the cash flow.
Last week, the other major parastatal mortgage refinancing, Freddie Mac, had published a quarterly loss of 7.980 billion and $ 10.6 billion requested additional assistance from Treasury.
In late March, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had estimated that the reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae should expect "a period of greater stability in financial markets." The Treasury had announced in late December that it would close until end 2012 loss of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
The two bodies were placed under the supervision of the U.S. government in September 2008, at the height of the crisis, when they threatened to collapse under the weight of their debt. Since then, the state has pumped hundreds of billions of dollars to keep them afloat.