Freddie Mac Commits to SEC Filings: Welcome to Corporate America

Freddie Mac (FRE) was founded in 1970, but it won’t be until 2008 that it will become a real company.

That is when the government-sponsored enterprise is “expected” to begin its registration process with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Why it has taken so long is something every taxpayer should wonder.

Richard F. Syron, the chairman and CEO of Freddie Mac, said in his Beantown drawl Thursday during the company’s earnings call ($211 million loss, thank you very much) that the SEC registration process, as well as audited annual financial results within 60 days of the end of the year – also “expected” in 2008 – “are the last two major building blocks needed so that there would be no question that Freddie Mac stands on the same footing of every other public company, and I think that is a reasonable expectation.”

This is way too long in coming. I have been arguing since the mid 1990s for equal footing for Freddie and Fannie Mae (FNM) – both publicly traded companies -- with the rest of Corporate America. And it is only after the deplorable accounting scandals of recent years that Freddie is registering. There are too many parties to blame for this lackadaisical corporate governance. This is a blog after all; I’ll write my book on this topic another day.

I agree that the end result is acceptable. But we would be mistaken to pat Freddie’s back with too much elation for committing to full SEC corporate filings. Freddie is doing right because it did wrong, and that is a sad statement indeed.

FRE 1-yr chart

Disclosure: none