WASHINGTON - US STATE-CONTROLLED mortgage lender Fannie Mae posted on Thursday another multi-billion-dollar quarterly loss and said it needed an additional US$15 billion (S$21 billion) in taxpayer funds.

Fannie Mae reported a net loss of US$18.9 billion in the third quarter, 35 per cent smaller than a year ago but sharply higher than its US$14.8 billion loss in the second quarter. Combined losses to date stand at US$56.8 billion.

Fannie Mae said the third-quarter results were largely due to US$22 billion of credit-related expenses, 'reflecting the continued build of the company's combined loss reserves and fair-value losses'.

It attributed the losses to 'the increasing number of loans that were acquired from mortgage-backed securities trusts in order to pursue loan modifications.'

The bailed-out lender has been buying mortgage-backed securities whose value has soured, part of the government's efforts to support the ailing housing market after a price bubble collapsed in 2006.

Fannie Mae said that at the end of the third quarter the company was in the hole for US$15 billion, and as a result had turned to the Treasury Department on Wednesday to seek public funds to keep it operating. -- AFP