4 Fannie execs depart; organization restructured

[September 20, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae, taken over by the government earlier this month, announced Friday the resignations of four senior executives and said it was restructuring its organization.

The company, the biggest buyer and guarantor of home loans in the country, and its sibling Freddie Mac were taken over on Sept. 7 in a rescue plan that eventually could require the Treasury Department to put up as much as $100 billion for each of them over time if needed to keep them afloat as mortgage losses mount.

The executives and boards of both companies are being replaced. Herbert Allison, the former head of the TIAA-CREF retirement investment fund, was immediately selected to head Fannie Mae, and David Moffett, a former vice chairman of US Bancorp, was chosen to head Freddie Mac.

The Fannie Mae executives whose resignations were announced Friday are Chief Business Officer Peter Niculescu, Executive Vice President and General Counsel Beth Wilkinson, Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Rahul Merchant, and Senior Vice President for Government and Industry Relations Duane Duncan.

In addition, Fannie Mae said its three lines of business -- single-family mortgage guaranty, capital markets, and housing and community development -- and their top managers will report directly to Allison, who is president and CEO. The technology and operations division will report to Chief Operating Officer Michael Willliams, while the structure of the government and industry relations division is under review, the company said.

"Fannie Mae is building a new organizational structure as we take the company in a new direction to serve a dramatically changing market," Allison said in a statement.

[Associated Press]

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