By Pete Schroeder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will nominate Sandra Thompson as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the White House said in a statement on Tuesday.
Thompson has served since June as the acting head of the agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (OTC:FMCC), two government-sponsored enterprises that guarantee roughly half of U.S. mortgages. She has worked at the FHFA since 2013, and before that was a longtime staffer at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
If confirmed by the Senate, Thompson would receive a five-year term at the agency. However, a recent Supreme Court ruling found that the president has the ability to remove the FHFA director at will.
The FHFA director oversees Fannie and Freddie, private companies with a government charter that have operated under a government conservatorship since a 2008 bailout.