Freddie Mac chief executive to resign

The head of US mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac will resign next year, the government said Wednesday in announcing changes at the top of the government-seized firm. Charles Haldeman, chief executive of Freddie Mac, "recently informed the board of his desire to step down some time in the coming year," the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) said in a statement. Haldeman has assured the board that he will remain as CEO until the transition has taken place, said the FHFA, which oversees Freddie and sibling Fannie Mae, bailed out in 2009 taxpayer-funded rescues. The two lenders represent the bulk of US mortgage lending. Five years after the home price bubble collapsed, the housing market, a key pillar of the economy, remains severely depressed. The Freddie Mac board will begin the process of developing a succession plan for the position "shortly," said the FHFA. Haldeman has headed Freddie Mac since August 2009, a year after the government rescued it and Fannie Mae from imminent bankruptcy amid a financial meltdown whose epicenter was the US housing market. In rescuing them, President Barack Obama's administration put the two lenders under government control in a bid to stabilize the financial system. Haldeman's role at Freddie Mac has been to facilitate access to home ownership by buying or guaranteeing mortgages. Under his leadership, Freddie Mac has tried to clean up a swamp of toxic assets resulting from weak management before the government seized control. A long-time financial services veteran, he was tapped for the position after leaving Putnam Investments. "Ed Haldeman has brought strong leadership to Freddie Mac," FHFA acting director, Edward DeMarco, said in a statement. "I appreciate his commitment to leadership stability during the upcoming transition." Freddie Mac, which the government wants to dismantle by 2018, posted consecutive quarterly losses between mid-2008 and the end of 2010. The lender has survived via a US Treasury lifeline of $66.2 billion in taxpayer-funded aid.