Fannie Mae to Send $2.9 Billion to Treasury as Profit Grows

Fannie Mae will send $2.9 billion to the U.S. Treasury Department in March, as profit grew in its fourth quarter because of the impact of increased interest rates.

The mortgage-finance company reported a profit of $2.47 billion for the fourth quarter, up from $1.31 billion a year earlier and $1.96 billion in the third quarter.

Fannie Mae said the increase was driven by higher long-term interest rates, which boosted the value of the derivatives it uses to manage risk. Fannie Mae booked $135 million in fair-value gains in the quarter, compared with losses of $2.5 billion in the prior-year period.

Fannie Mae's revenue slipped to $5.3 billion from $5.47 billion a year earlier.

On Thursday, rival Freddie Mac reported a higher profit for the fourth quarter and said it would pay a $1.7 billion dividend to the U.S. Treasury in March. Freddie also cited higher interest rates for the results.

Fannie and Freddie don't make mortgages. The companies buy loans from lenders, wrap them into securities and provide guarantees to make investors whole if the loans default.

The price of their portfolios rise and fall as interest rates change. They use derivatives in an effort to counteract that effect, but because of accounting rules, the derivatives can make large profits or losses appear over short periods.

The higher fourth-quarter results come amid uncertainty over Fannie and Freddie's futures. The government took control of Fannie and Freddie through a so-called conservatorship during the financial crisis in 2008, eventually injecting $187.5 billion into the companies. The companies now pay nearly all of their profits to the U.S. Treasury and are required to wind down their capital buffers over time until they reach zero dollars by 2018.

When the deal was put in place, Congress was considering housing-finance legislation that would replace Fannie and Freddie with a new system. However, a bipartisan effort to replace the companies died in 2014, and legislators in an election year have shown little willingness to consider that or another bill.

Joe Light contributed to this article.

Write to Chelsey Dulaney at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 19, 2016 08:35 ET (13:35 GMT)

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