Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae OK with New Regulation

London–Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are cautiously optimistic about new legislation increasing oversight over both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, Bloomberg reports.Speaking to investors at a conference in London, Freddie Mac Chief Financial Officer Anthony Piszel said the legislation didn’t contain a “death blow.””The rulemaking will determine what the flexibility is that we have,” Piszel said. “It’s going to take a couple of years, quite frankly, to work through.”In an interview after Fannie Mae’s annual shareholder meeting in New Orleans, Chief Executive Daniel Mudd seemed content with the changes.”We continue to want to have a strong credible regulator,” Mudd told Bloomberg. “This is another step forward in the progress.”McLean, Va.-based Freddie Mac and Washington, D.C.-based Fannie Mae received a new regulator–who will have stronger authority to oversee how much capital each must hold–via legislation approved Tuesday by the U.S. Senate Banking Committee.The overseer also will have the ability to reduce Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s growth and liquidate its assets.