Fannie Mae vs Legal & General: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Fannie Mae and Legal & General side by side

1. 1836Legal & General

   Founded in Chancery Lane Coffee House

   Six prominent London lawyers established Legal & General Life Assurance Society to provide life policies to the legal profession.

2. 1889Legal & General

   Expansion to the General Public

   Eliminated restriction on non-legal policyholders, expanding nationwide as a major commercial British life office.

3. 1938Fannie Mae

   Chartered by Congress under FDR's New Deal

   President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs legislation chartering the National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) to provide secondary mortgage liquidity.

4. 1948Fannie Mae

   Authority to Purchase VA-Guaranteed Loans

   Congress authorizes Fannie Mae to purchase GI Bill home loans guaranteed by the Veterans Administration for WWII veterans.

5. 1954Fannie Mae

   Charter Act Reorganization into Mixed-Ownership Entity

   Congress passes the Federal National Mortgage Association Charter Act, establishing private shareholder equity alongside government control.

6. 1968Fannie Mae

   Privatization and Separation from Ginnie Mae

   President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Housing and Urban Development Act, splitting Fannie Mae into a private GSE and federal Ginnie Mae.

7. 1970Fannie Mae

   Authority to Purchase Conventional Mortgages

   Emergency Home Finance Act grants Fannie Mae authority to purchase conventional mortgages not insured by the FHA or VA.

8. 1970Legal & General

   Creation of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM)

   Established LGIM, which grew into the UK's largest institutional asset manager and pioneer of European index funds.

9. 1981Fannie Mae

   Issuance of First Mortgage-Backed Security (MBS)

   Issues its first conventional Mortgage-Backed Security, pioneering modern mortgage securitization for global capital markets.

10. 1986Legal & General

    Pioneering UK Index-Tracking Funds

    Launched Britain's first low-cost passive index tracking funds for corporate pension schemes.

11. 1988Fannie Mae

    Launch of Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS)

    Introduces the DUS multifamily lender program, pioneering risk-sharing partnerships with private apartment mortgage lenders.

12. 1995Fannie Mae

    Launch of Desktop Underwriter (DU)

    Introduces Desktop Underwriter, an automated underwriting software engine that revolutionized American mortgage approval speed.

13. 2008Fannie Mae

    FHFA Places Fannie Mae into Federal Conservatorship

    Amid catastrophic subprime defaults, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) places Fannie Mae into federal conservatorship.

14. 2008Legal & General

    Pioneering the Modern Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) Market

    Began writing large-scale bulk purchase annuities to take over corporate defined-benefit pension liabilities.

15. 2012Legal & General

    Sir Nigel Wilson Appointed Chief Executive

    Sir Nigel Wilson became CEO, championing 'Inclusive Capitalism' and deploying pension billions into UK infrastructure and housing.

16. 2013Fannie Mae

    Launch of Connecticut Avenue Securities (CAS) CRT Program

    Pioneers the Credit Risk Transfer market, issuing CAS bonds to offload mortgage default risk onto private institutional investors.

17. 2014Legal & General

    Acquisition of Lucida plc

    Acquired specialist UK bulk purchase annuity writer Lucida for £151 million, accelerating pension de-risking scale.

18. 2019Fannie Mae

    Launch of the Single Security (Uniform MBS / UMBS)

    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac launch the common Uniform MBS, unifying secondary market liquidity across both GSEs.

19. 2019Fannie Mae

    Treasury Agreement Permits Capital Retention

    FHFA and US Treasury modify senior preferred purchase agreements, allowing Fannie Mae to retain quarterly earnings to build capital reserves.

20. 2019Legal & General

    Landmark £4.4B British Airways Pension Buyout

    Completed the largest pension risk transfer deal in UK history, insuring £4.4 billion in British Airways pension liabilities.

21. 2021Legal & General

    AUM Surpasses £1.4 Trillion at LGIM

    LGIM reached record assets under management, expanding internationally across the United States, Europe, and Asia.

22. 2022Fannie Mae

    Priscilla Almodovar Named Chief Executive Officer

    Affordable housing finance veteran Priscilla Almodovar appointed CEO, driving mission-driven housing access and financial resilience.

23. 2024Legal & General

    António Simões Appointed Group CEO

    Former Santander and HSBC executive António Simões took leadership as CEO, launching a streamlined strategy uniting asset management and retirement.

24. 2025Fannie Mae

    Guaranty Book Reaches $4.1T; Net Worth Nears $100B

    Fannie Mae reports $28.50 billion in net revenue and $17.40 billion in net income, with retained net worth approaching $100 billion.

25. 2025Legal & General

    Record Solvency II Coverage of 223% & £14.20B Revenue

    Delivered £1.75 billion in operating profit with over £9.0 billion in surplus capital, supporting market-leading ~9% dividend yields.

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