(Reuters) – Mortgage finance firm Freddie Mac said on Tuesday James Whitlinger, who has been filling in as its interim chief financial officer since June, has taken on the role permanently.
In his decade-long stint at the company, Whitlinger has also served as its senior vice president and finance chief of the single-family business.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which were created to broaden homebuyers’ access to mortgage financing, have been under the control of the U.S. government since being battered during the 2008 financial crisis.
Their shares surged to multi-year highs last week after federal agencies revealed a framework for their “orderly” eventual release from conservatorship.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is widely expected to take steps to return the companies to private ownership. Similar efforts during his first term fell short.
(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
