One of the things I enjoy about the holiday season is a chance to reflect on the past year. From our mission, to our business partners, to our own employees, I have much to be thankful for.
From a mission perspective, Ginnie Mae has the privilege of supporting affordable housing through the mortgage liquidity we make possible. While we don’t touch consumers directly, our guaranty backs more than $1.6 trillion in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that are essential to helping underserved households, U.S. military veterans, Native Americans and rural communities. During Fiscal Year 2015, we supported almost two million households with mortgage money that came from the issuance of $432 billion in Ginnie Mae guaranteed MBS, amounting to about one-third of the mortgage market. Clearly, there is a need for more affordable housing in our country, and we at Ginnie Mae are fortunate to have the ability to help.
Of course, we cannot support those most in need without quality business partners. During the year, there continued to be a strong demand, both foreign and domestic, for investments in U.S. housing finance. This manifested itself in the investor demand for Ginnie Mae MBS, as well as the performance of capable mortgage servicers who administered the pools underlying our MBS. All this activity occurred despite considerable obstacles: regulatory uncertainties, cost pressures, lack of progress on housing finance reform, and lingering effects from the Great Recession. Our business partners, whose efforts have been impressive and heartening, have the deep gratitude of all of us at Ginnie Mae.
And that brings me to my appreciation for the Ginnie Mae employees. Our business has a very small staff, 129 professionals, that work with third-party vendors to support government mortgage markets. And as these markets grow, the responsibility placed on each employee increases. To give you context, at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, their total mortgage portfolios average about $400 million per employee. At Ginnie Mae, our MBS portfolio averages $13 billion per employee! That’s billion with a B. And that is just one reason why I am particularly thankful for our employees who manage our daily operations, monitor a wide array of risks, and modernize our business for the future.
A wonderful mission, terrific business partners, and incredibly impressive employees. During this holiday season, these are the three things that I am thankful for. And I hope you are, too.
Happy holidays!
Ted W. Tozer is was sworn in as president of Ginnie Mae on Feb. 24, 2010, bringing with him more than 30 years of experience in the mortgage, banking and securities industries. As president of Ginnie Mae, Tozer actively manages Ginnie Mae's $1.5 trillion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) and more than $460 billion in annual issuance.
This article originally appeared in the December 2015 print edition of National Mortgage Professional Magazine.
