Speaking of censorship, did you see this?
Top of Form 1 Bottom of Form 1
Thursday March 8, 1:34 am Eastern Time
Fannie, Freddie accused of threats against firms-WSJ
NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - Several big banks and financial-services firms said they had been threatened by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for criticising the market power and expansion efforts of the two government-sponsored mortgage-finance giants, the Wall Street Journal said.
The paper said chief executives of Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=wfc&d=t> - news </n/w/wfc.html>) and American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aig&d=t> - news </n/a/aig.html>) said in interviews this week they faced threats of retaliation in their business ties with Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=fnm&d=t> - news </n/f/fnm.html>) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE <http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=fre&d=t> - news </n/f/fre.html>) for participating in FM Watch -- a group in Washington that has been a vocal critic of the companies.
A spokeswoman for Fannie Mae denied that the company has applied any pressure to curb criticism, the paper reported in its online edition on Thursday.
``These assertions are rather bizarre and are belied by the facts,'' Janice Daue, vice president for public affairs, was quoted as saying.
``These companies are some of our biggest business partners today, and we hope will be well into the future,'' she was quoted as saying.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are publicly traded, government-chartered companies created years ago by the U.S. government to make the mortgage market run more smoothly and boost home ownership.
They do this by buying loans, freeing lenders to make more loans.
The latest incident involved an alleged threat by Fannie Mae to cut back the amount of business it does with J.P. Morgan Chase's Morgan unit unless its chief executive William Harrison Jr. resigned from the board of FM Watch, the paper said.
Harrison Jr. resigned this week from FM Watch's board, the paper said.
(cont)
biz.yahoo.com |
