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59 Last year, we signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with HUD, and that was an historic agreement to address fair lending oversight. We're going to continue to work with HUD to improve fair housing across the market. And we've also issued a fair lending policy statement that outlines our priorities and our expectations with respect to fair lending and oversight. We also work closely with the fair lending offices at both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. We've asked the Enterprises to regularly report fair lending data to FHFA and to make sure that we have not only put these requirements in place, but we are also overseeing them and monitoring to see what impact they are having on the mortgage market. We are very serious about our fair lending responsibilities, and we will address any explicit or implicit racial bias in the mortgage process. We issued an advisory bulletin that provides comprehensive guidance to Fannie and Freddie on our expectations for complying with fair lending laws. And they, of course, require their counterparty sellers and servicers to adhere to these principles. Do you believe it's a given that Fannie and Freddie will remain in conservatorship through the end of the Biden administration's term in office? Or do you think it's possible that could change? First, I would say this. We closely monitor and supervise the Enterprises, and we're focused on making sure they grow capital and improve their safety and soundness while they're in conservatorship. Adequate capital is a necessary precondition for the Enterprises to exit from conservatorship, and that's not a calendar-driven event. I am not in a position to unilaterally end a conservatorship; that's a decision that involves a number of stakeholders, and there are quite a few steps that are going to have to be completed to responsibly end the conservatorships. I am committed to positioning the Enterprises and working with Treasury and Congress to do whatever is necessary to move them out of conservatorship in a responsible timeframe. ere are a lot of things that need to happen before that takes place. But I do think there are some steps we can take, and that we are taking, beyond building capital to make sure that, upon their exit from conservatorship, the Enterprises don't have a repeat of what led to the financial crisis in the first place. We are re-starting the credit risk transfers. Right now, the Enterprises have barely any capital, and so, if there was a significant event, taxpayers are on the hook for losses. With the credit risk transfer programs, we're moving that risk away from the taxpayer to private investors. And the Enterprises are the largest holders of mortgage credit risk in the country—I would daresay in the world. Shifting that credit risk away from the Enterprises, off the backs of the taxpayers and onto private investors, is very important. We're also improving the Enterprises' transparency. We have a number of capital related rules that are in the proposal stage now. We want to improve the Enterprises' transparency, but there's a lot of work that needs to be done. Again, while we are still working on more ways to transfer risk, we want to make sure we've strengthened underwriting, and we're reviewing pricing and some of the credit policies that the Enterprises are responsible for. So, it's just not an overnight process, and there are a lot of steps that need to be taken. We're working with the Enterprises to take those steps so that they can exit from conservatorship in a responsible manner and in a timeframe that makes sense. David Wharton, Editor-in- Chief at the Five Star Institute, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he received his B.A. in English and minored in journalism. Wharton has over 17 years' experience in journalism and previously worked at omson Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, as Associate Content Editor, focusing on producing media content related to tax and accounting principles and government rules and regulations for accounting professionals. Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published contributions in both online and print media publications. Wharton and his family currently reside in Arlington, Texas. He can be reached at David.Wharton@ thefivestar.com. "We are very serious about our fair lending responsibilities, and we will address any explicit or implicit racial bias in the mortgage process."

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