By Jessica Holzer
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- Fannie Mae (FNM) has appointed David M. Johnson to serve as chief financial officer, the company said Tuesday.
Johnson, who served as CFO of Cendant Corp. and worked for Merrill Lynch & Co. as an investment banker, comes to Fannie Mae from Hartford Financial Services Group, an insurer.
"With his broad and deep financial services and capital markets experiences, David will help lead Fannie Mae as we assist the market during this unprecedented correction," Fannie Mae President and Chief Executive Herbert M. Allison said in a statement.
Fannie Mae and its sibling Freddie Mac (FRE) were seized by the government in September as investor confidence in the mortgage lenders declined. The move cast a cloud over the companies' future as shareholder firms with a public mission. Together, Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee more than $5 trillion of U.S. mortgages.
Policy makers are set to begin debating the appropriate role of the government in the secondary mortgage market next year. Some have proposed cutting the companies' government ties, completely folding them into the government or restructuring them akin to public utilities.
Allison said Tuesday in the statement that Johnson would help lead Fannie Mae's "transition to the future."
-Jessica Holzer, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9228; jessica.holzer@dowjones.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 25, 2008 17:55 ET (22:55 GMT)

Publié le 25 novembre 2008 Copyright © 2008 Dowjones