Fannie Mae requests $8.4 billion more in federal aid

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae has requested $8.4 billion in federal aid after posting a $13.1 billion loss in the first quarter. 

The Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae's regulator, has requested the aid from the Treasury Department before June 30 to eliminate $8.4 billion net worth deficit as of March 31, it reported Monday.

With the additional aid, Fannie Mae will have received $84.6 billion in federal help. 

Last week, Freddie Mac requested $10.6 billion in additional federal aid after reporting first-quarter losses. 

Senate Republicans are advocating for the inclusion of an amendment to the financial regulatory reform bill that would designate when Congress has to have a plan ready to reorganize the government-controlled mortgage agencies. 

The company reported a net loss of $11.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with $15.2 billion in the fourth quarter. The losses included $1.5 billion of dividends on senior preferred stock held by the Treasury. 

The net loss attributable to common stockholders was $13.1 billion or $2.29 per diluted share, compared with a loss of $16.3 billion, or $2.87 per diluted share in the final three months of 2009. 

The $8.4 billion loss, driven primarily by credit-related expenses that remain elevated because of weaknesses in the economy and housing market, takes into account a $3.3 billion reduction in deficit related to new accounting standards and unrealized gains on available for-sale securities. 

"In the first quarter we continued to serve as a leading source of liquidity to the mortgage market, and we made solid progress in our ongoing efforts to keep people in their homes," said Mike Williams, Fannie Mae President and CEO in a statement. 

The company completed 94,000 loan modifications in the first quarter, half of which were conversions of trial modifications under the Obama administration's Home Affordable Modification Program.