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FHFA Acting Director Ed DeMarco told lawmakers that any future housing finance system must ensure continued, unbiased access for CUs to the secondary market.

March 20, 2013 – Ed DeMarco, acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, echoed concerns held by NAFCU when he toldthe House Financial Services Committee Tuesday that any future system arising from housing finance reform must ensure equal market access for small and medium-sized lenders.

DeMarco was testifying before the panel to provide an update on the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorships.

Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, indicated his desire to see the committee move forward on legislation that would phase out the two conserved government-sponsored enterprises. Asked by Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., about how long he thinks such a wind-down will take, he estimated that the new securitization platform being created now should be functional in five years.

Asked by Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., about the provision of guarantees as part of a future housing finance system, DeMarco said he could envision a system either with or without a government guarantee being provided.

NAFCU has provided the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee with its set of core principles for housing finance reform, most recently in a letter submitted late Monday for the Senate Banking hearing yesterday on prospects for bipartisan solutions for reform.

That letter, from NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker, urged that any reform should preserve uninterrupted, unbiased access to the secondary market for credit unions and, among other things, at least two GSEs going forward that perform functions similar to those handled by Fannie and Freddie.

In Tuesday's Senate Banking hearing, both committee Chairman Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., asked one of the witnesses about access to the secondary market for credit unions and community banks. The witness, former Sen. Mel Martinez, now with the Bipartisan Policy Center's Housing Commission, said his group was committed to ensuring such access.