FHFA's Lockhart to step down

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director James Lockhart, who oversaw last year’s federal takeover of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, said he plans to leave the agency later this month.

“The timing is appropriate,” Lockhart said. Freddie Mac hired a new chief executive last month and the housing market is starting to show some signs of recovery, the regulator said in an interview today.

Fed to launch new bank exam teams

The Federal Reserve plans to intensify its scrutiny of bank lending and financial health with teams made up of experts in a variety of new areas. Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo outlined the plan during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington today. The overhaul, which would make reviews more uniform across the banking system, builds on the stress tests the central bank completed on the biggest 19 banks in May, he said. “We are prioritizing and expanding” the examination process to “assess key operations, risks and risk management activities of large institutions,” Tarullo said in his testimony today. “This program will be distinct from the activities of on-site examination teams so as to provide an independent supervisory perspective. This work will be performed by a multidisciplinary group composed of our economic and market researchers, supervisors, market operations specialists and accounting and legal experts,” Tarullo said.

A regulatory tussle has been unfolding since the Obama administration proposed strengthening the Fed's regulatory profile. The major regulators have each opposed some aspect of the plan in hopes of maintaining their own powers as the winds of change blow in.