Freddie Mac CEO resigns

Moffett stepped down today and will leave the company within the next 10 days, by which time the company expects to have named a successor.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were both taken into government control in September last year, but have since received massive government investment as part of the US authorities' attempts to support the mortgage market. Moffett took over as chief executive later the same month, having retired from US Bancorp in 2007 as chief financial officer - in the intervening 12 months, he worked for Carlyle Group as a senior advisor on financial services. He now plans to return to the financial services sector, he said.

Last month, the US Treasury promised to double its assistance to Freddie Mac from $100 billion to $200 billion in an effort to avoid a wave of mortgage foreclosures.

See also: US Treasury doubles aid to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac