Standard&Poor's has assigned Fannie Mae a corporate governance score of 9.0 on a 10 point scale, reflecting governance practices that are consistently strong or very strong across each of our areas of analysis. Fannie Mae's unique corporate status, its size and influence in the housing market, its connection with the government, its public interest mission and the scope of its activity in the fixed income capital markets are all distinctive features of its operating environment. These factors increase its public visibility and invite scrutiny from the private and public sectors and the media. In addition, they allow more scope for external stakeholder influence at Fannie Mae than would be the case for companies with lower public profiles. Particular
