Summit Notebook
Exclusive outtakes from industry leaders
from LEGACY Reuters Summits:
Troubled Freddie Mac exec was “straight arrow”
James Lockhart, head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency
The chief financial officer at Freddie Mac who died in an apparent suicide was a capable executive who had no involvement in any improper accounting, according to Freddie Mac's federal regulator.
"David (Kellermann) was a very conscientious and hard-working person and took, unfortunately, too much onto himself," James Lockhart, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, told the Reuters Global Financial Regulation Summit in Washington.
Kellermann was found dead on April 22 in the basement of his Virginia home after having hung himself, local police sources said. Some news reports at the time tied Kellermann's death to ongoing federal investigations into Freddie Mac's accounting.
"You know, one of the things I find unfortunate? Some of the speculation about accounting issues at Freddie. They are very rigorous," Lockhart said. He described Kellermann as a "straight arrow" whose reputation was above reproach and said that the failings at Freddie Mac were widely shared.
Russia’s helping hand for Fannie, Freddie
The head of Russia’s oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, which carries over 10 percent of the world’s oil supply to market, takes a charitable view of Russia’s oil output growth. At a time when oil prices are on the slide, and the OPEC group of oil producing nations is cutting production, he thinks energy-rich Russia must keep pumping more to help the world’s less fortunate consuming nations and their economies.
“What about our beloved Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? We can’t do it (let production stagnate). We have to support them,” he joked.
AUDIO – Fannie, Freddie favour Russia
Russia’s Finance Ministry and central bank have been put on the defensive for investing the national reserves in U.S. mortgage agency debt. Deputy Finance Minister Dmitry Pankin tells the Reuters Russia Investment Summit that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were propping up Russia’s finances, not the other way around.
