Mortgage Scene: Who's Really Behind FM Watch? No Secrets There.(Brief Article)

The recent flare-up in the mortgage civil war between the GSEs and FM Watch has been none-too- pretty. Then again, there's nothing a journalist likes better than a good war story. But the sad thing about it all is that once the smoke finally clears (if it clears) the real loser likely will be the consumer.

It's no secret who's behind FM Watch, a group formed to lobby Congress and regulators to rein in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's expansionist tendencies. The mortgage insurance industry, subprime lenders, commercial bankers and some of their respective trade groups are footing the bill to keep FM Watch's lawyers and lobbyists gainfully employed.

Then again, the mortgage civil war will keep GSE lobbyists (and their respective law firms) in caviar for at least the next two to three years.

So far, the "war" has played out like this: FM Watch or some of its members make a charge or slams Fannie and Freddie in the press and then the two GSEs react with righteous indignation. Do Fannie and Freddie have the right to be outraged when a new allegation is floated in the press? Sure they do. Does the FM Watch have the right to say what they want about charter creep? Sure they do.

But who's really behind FM Watch? We know it's the MIs, subprime lenders and commercial banks, but who's on FM Watch's secret executive committee? Well, here for the second time (our sister publication National Mortgage News printed the list on April 9) is a list of who's turning the gears at FM Watch: Anne C. Canfield, president of the Consumer Mortgage Coalition; Charlie Coudriet, SVP, Dominion Capital; Roger Taylor, president of Financial Security Assurance Inc.; Frank Fillips, chairman, Radian Guaranty; Gerald Friedman, chairman, FM Watch; Suzanne Hutchinson, EVP, Mortgage Insurance Companies of America; Thomas Jacob, chairman, Chase Manhattan Mortgage; Thomas Mann, chairman, GE Capital Mortgage ...