Fannie Mae CEO Michael Williams plans to resign, the government-controlled mortgage giant said Tuesday. Williams, who took over as president and CEO of the troubled company in 2009, will continue as CEO until Fannie Mae's board names a successor. The firm did not provide a specific reason for Williams' departure; in a statement, Williams said only that he had decided that "the time is right to turn over the reins to a new leader." Williams will leave behind a firm still struggling to get its finances in order. In November, Fannie Mae (FNMA, Fortune 500) reported a net third-quarter loss of $5.1 billion. The loss forced the firm to ask for another $7.8 billion in funding from the Treasury Department, a request that took its bailout total to $112.6 billion. Federal regulators put Fannie Mae and fellow government-sponsored enterprise Freddie Mac (FMCC, Fortune 500) into conservatorship during the financial meltdown in September 2008. [Read the full article]

Fannie Mae Chief Executive Michael Williams said on Tuesday he was stepping down from the government-controlled mortgage firm, which is at the center of a fight over how to reduce foreclosures. He will depart after a successor is appointed to lead the country's largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, the company said in a statement. With Williams' announced departure, the government now needs to find leaders for both of the two largest U.S. housing finance companies. Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman announced plans to step down in October. Williams began working at the Fannie Mae in 1991. He was appointed chief executive in 2009 after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government at the height of the financial crisis as mortgage losses mounted. The two companies have soaked up about $169 billion in taxpayer support since being placed in conservatorship. [Read the full article]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fannie Mae Chief Executive Michael Williams said on Tuesday he was stepping down from the government-controlled mortgage firm, which is at the center of a fight over how to reduce foreclosures.He will depart after a successor is appointed to lead the country's largest provider of U.S. residential mortgage funding, the company said in a statement.With Williams' announced departure, the government now needs to find leaders for both of the two largest U.S. housing finance companies. Freddie Mac CEO Charles Haldeman announced plans to step down in October.Williams began working at the Fannie Mae in 1991. He was appointed chief executive in 2009 after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were seized by the government at the height of the financial crisis as mortgage losses mounted.The two companies have soaked up about $169 billion in taxpayer support since being placed in conservatorship. [Read the full article]

Ben S. Bernanke is signaling hiswillingness to double down on a three-year bet that's failed torevive housing, showing the extent of the Federal Reservechairman's effort to wrest a recovery from the deepestrecession.Since the Fed started buying $1.25 trillion of mortgagebonds in January 2009, the value of U.S. housing has fallen 4.1percent, and is down 32 percent from its 2006 peak, according toan S&P/Case-Shiller index. The central bank is poised to buyabout $200 billion this year, or more than 20 percent of newloans, as it reinvests debt that's being paid off. Some Fedofficials have said they may support additional purchases thatBarclays Capital estimates could total as much as $750 billion.Even as Bernanke and fellow U.S. central bankers considerexpanding their efforts, they are acknowledging their inabilityto turn around the housing market without help from the rest ofthe government. [Read the full article]