Fannie Mae at risk of needing a bailout, Again

Fannie Mae's chief executive and its regulator are sounding the alarm on a decline in the institution's capital cushion, which is on course to vanish in 2018, when it would have to ask the US Treasury for emergency funds.

Their warnings highlight Washington's inaction on housing policy and its failure to reform the institution, which guarantees nearly $3tn of securities and enables 30-year fixed rate loans, following the last financial crisis.

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Because the government does not let Fannie Mae retain profits, Tim Mayopoulos, its chief executive, told the Financial Times on Friday that its capital buffer, which has dwindled from $30bn before the crisis to $1.2bn today, was on track to disappear by January 2018.

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So far investors who own Fannie Mae's mortgage-backed securities have not been spooked, Mr Mayopoulos said, but he added: "We are a major source of liquidity to the mortgage markets and it would be better to avoid testing the market as to what the breaking point is well in advance of us getting to that point."