Despite severe limitations on compensation to its top executive, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. has reportedly located a new chief executive officer. A formal announcement is expected this week.
Freddie Mac disclosed in October that it was notified by Charles E. Haldeman Jr. of his plans to step down as CEO during the coming year. Haldeman was originally named CEO in July 2009.
In addition, John Koskinen, who was chairman of the McLean, Va.-based company, reached the mandatory retirement age and was replaced by Christopher Lynch in December.
As it sought to replace Haldeman, the Federal Housing Finance Agency was limited by its own 2012 executive compensation program that eliminates bonuses during conservatorship and establishes target pay for a new CEO at $500,000. That meant that a new chief’s compensation would be more than 50 percent below the median pay for comparable CEOs.
In developing the compensation plan, FHFA Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco was bowing to public outrage over high-paid CEOs at companies that have been bailed out by the government.
On Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal reported that Donald Layton has been selected as CEO of the secondary lender. An announcement is expected as soon as Thursday.
Layton, 61, was chairman of E*TRADE from November 2007 — when a Citi Investment Research report warned of possible bankruptcy for the company — until he retired at the end of 2009. He added the CEO role in March 2008.
E*TRADE reported a 2008 loss of $0.8 billion, while its 2009 loss was $1.3 billion. It exited residential lending in April 2008.
Before his E*TRADE gig, Layton was the co-CEOÂ at JPMorgan &Â Chase Co.’s investment bank. He started at Chase in 1996.
He received bachelor and masters of science degrees in economics simultaneously from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972 and holds a Harvard M.B.A.
As head of Freddie Mac, Layton will oversee a $2.1 trillion total mortgage portfolio and annual business purchases of around $400 billion. Cumulative taxpayer bailout funds provided to the government-controlled enterprise so far amount to $72.300 billion.
