US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the government should end the “ambiguity” over the government’s involvement in mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Private gains can no longer be supported by the umbrella of public protection, capital standards must be higher and excessive risk-taking must be appropriately restrained,” Geithner said in testimony prepared for the House Financial Services Committee that was obtained by Bloomberg News.

Geithner said the Treasury Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development will issue a request for comment by 15 April on how to overhaul the US housing-finance system and its regulatory structure.

bloomberg.com, Wall Street Journal