FHFA Examiner Shortfall Still Persists, IG Report Claims

The Federal Housing Finance Agency is still not producing enough adequately-trained examiners necessary to monitor Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, four years after the agency's inspector general first raised concerns about the issue, a new report claims.

The examiner commission program, founded in 2013 after an FHFA Office of Inspector General report found two-thirds of FHFA examiners lacked proper training, has thus far failed its mission to produce qualified examiners, the July 29 report finds. The examiners assess risk taken in transactions made by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks.

The inspector general report found that only one out of 66 had submitted paperwork showing the examiner had fully completed the commission program and that more than 20% enrolled over the 19-month period it reviewed had not completed more than one of the required courses. The FHFA also did not have records for which enrolled examiners were fulfilling their on-the-job training requirements.

The inspector general also found that some courses and on-the-job training requirements were waived for half of those in the examiner commission program.

In a response included in the report, the FHFA agreed with its inspector general's recommendations to keep better records and communicate better with participating examiners and their managers. The agency has also agreed to take certain steps to increase the effectiveness of the program. The Office of the Inspector General said in its own response that it considers the steps outlined to be adequate.

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