Ennesimo allarme su Fannie:
Reuters
UPDATE - Regulator eyes Fannie's accounting for impairments
Thursday April 1, 2:57 pm ET
By Mark Felsenthal
(Recasts first paragraph, adds details, background throughout)
WASHINGTON, April 1 (Reuters) - A government regulator, which said a review of accounting practices at mortgage finance company Fannie Mae may lead to an earnings restatement, said on Thursday it was concerned about the way the company accounted for assets that lost value.
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Armando Falcon, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, said in a statement that OFHEO was conducting a broad review of Fannie Mae's accounting, but was "intensely focused" on several issues, including how it accounts for downward change in the value of some of its assets, or impairments.
Improper application of accounting guidelines could affect the company's manufactured housing portfolio and other assets, he said.
"Our review of this particular matter, while not concluded, has led to concerns that Fannie Mae may not have applied the proper accounting guidance in this area," Falcon said in the statement.
Falcon said his agency was also examining the effect this may have had on Fannie Mae's (NYSE:FNM - News) financial statements.
OFHEO said on Wednesday its review of the mortgage finance company's books could result in a restatement of past financial results. The review was undertaken as a precaution after a $5 billion earnings restatement last year by another government-sponsored mortgage company, Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE - News).
Legislation before Congress would create a stronger regulator for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 Federal Home Loan Banks.
Fannie Mae reported to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (News - Websites) last month that the market value of securities backed by manufactured home loans it owns or guarantees fell by $2 billion between the end of 2002 and 2003.
Since the end of 2003, a massive number of these bonds were downgraded by the three rating agencies due to severely high defaults and delinquencies on these loans.
The company said it took a $155 million write-down in 2003 on these manufactured housing securities. (Additional reporting by Richard Leong in New York) (Editing by Toni Reinhold;
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