US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Friday that the creation of a new system of US home-loan financing should be a top priority of financial reform.
“Regardless of the organizational form, we must strive to design a housing financing system that ensures the successful funding and securitization of mortgages during times of financial stress,” Bernanke said.
The government “likely” has a role to play in supporting the system, “at least during periods of high financial stress,” he said in a speech to a university symposium in Berkeley, California.
But he warned against creating institutions that pose systemic risks to the financial markets and the economy.
Bernanke referred to the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) that Washington took over in September in order to avert a financial system meltdown from the housing crisis.
Shares in the two GSEs that underpin trillions of dollars of home loans had nearly lost all their value amid mortgage-related financial turmoil.
“The existing GSE model involves an inherent conflict between the objectives of the companies’ private shareholders and the objectives of public policy,” he said.
Bernanke outlined a range of approaches to reform of the GSE model, from privatization to nationalization and including covered bonds, the primary source of mortgage funding in European banks.
“Achieving the appropriate balance among these design challenges will be difficult, but it nevertheless must be high on the policy agenda for financial reform,” he said.
The government’s placement of the troubled firms into “conservatorship” on Sept. 7 has allowed a “time out” to reconsider their future role, he said.
Bernanke addressed by video conference a symposium on the mortgage crisis, the economy and public policy.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence
RSS