Fannie and Freddie CEOs to get up to $6m in pay

Friday, December 25, 2009
NEW YORK: The two chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could get paid as much as $6 million for 2009, despite the companies’ dismal performances this year which cost taxpayers more than $100 billion.

Fannie’s CEO, Michael Williams, and Freddie CEO Charles “Ed” Haldeman Jr each will receive $900,000 in salary, $3.1 million in deferred payments next year and another $2 million if they meet certain performance goals, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

The pay packages were approved by the Treasury Department and the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.

That compares to $10.2 million former Fannie CEO Daniel Mudd received and $13.1 million former Freddie CEO Richard Syron pocketed in 2008. Both execs were ousted when federal regulators seized the companies in September 2008. In September, the federal government blocked exit packages for the pair worth up to $24 million.

Since then, Fannie and Freddie have needed $111 billion in taxpayer money to stay afloat, one of the most expensive aftershocks of the financial crisis. News of the chief executives’ pay could spark new criticism about the government’s numerous bailouts.

Public anger over Wall Street pay boiled over earlier this year. In response, the Obama administration imposed pay curbs on banks that received government bailouts. All the major banks have since repaid their federal money, largely to escape caps on executive pay.