“The Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, with support from the Federal Reserve, announced actions today regarding the housing government sponsored enterprises to protect the financial system, to support the housing market, and to protect the taxpayers.”

• Paulson Remarks on Housing GSE Actions
• FHFA Director Lockhart Remarks on Housing GSE Actions
• Fact Sheet: FHFA Conservatorship
• Fact Sheet: Treasury Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement
• Fact Sheet: Treasury MBS Purchase Program
• Fact Sheet: Treasury GSE Credit Facility
• WSJ: “In its most dramatic market intervention in years, the U.S. government seized two of the nation’s largest financial companies, taking direct responsibility for firms that provide funding for around three-quarters of new home mortgages. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced plans Sunday to take control of troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, replace the companies’ chief executives and provide up to $200 billion in capital to restore the firms to financial health. The Treasury’s plan puts the two companies under a conservatorship, giving management control to their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or FHFA. In return for agreeing to provide as much equity capital as needed later to cover losses stemming from mortgage defaults, the Treasury gets $1 billion of preferred stock in each company without providing any immediate cash.”
• WSJ – Fan-Fred Plan Pleases Global Watchers: “The U.S. government’s plan to take the helm at the nation’s ailing mortgage giants was welcomed by some banks and market watchers outside the U.S. as a way to dispel the uncertainty plaguing the world’s financial institutions and companies.”