MCLEAN, Va. — Freddie Mac chief executive David Moffett has resigned, six months after being tapped by regulators to lead the mortgage-finance company through its government-run conservatorship.
Moffett, 57, “indicated that he wants to return to a role in the financial-services sector,” and the company will name an interim CEO before March 13, Freddie said in a statement Monday. The announcement comes the same week as Freddie prepares to report its sixth straight quarterly loss and make a second request for emergency aid from the U.S. Treasury.
Freddie reiterated Monday that it may ask for $30 billion to $35 billion in Treasury capital as the company, along with larger competitor Fannie Mae, struggles with deteriorating credit quality. Freddie, which has reported about $30 billion in losses over five quarters, may have troubles that run deeper than Moffett assessed when he took the job in September, said Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets in Arlington, Va.
“I think Moffett probably thought he would do this for a year or two years and would be able to take them public again and is finding out that’s not going to happen,” Miller said. “The companies are bigger messes than anyone anticipated six months ago.”
A telephone message left at Moffett’s office at Freddie wasn’t immediately returned.
Freddie and Washington-based Fannie are the largest U.S. mortgage-finance companies, owning or guaranteeing about $5.3 trillion of the $12 trillion residential mortgage market.
