Fannie Mae CEO's pay rose in '07 as losses mounted

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The head of Fannie Mae, a company chartered by Congress to help more Americans own homes, reaped a 7 percent rise in pay last year, to $13.4 million, while the company lost money and the country suffered its worst housing crisis in decades.

Fannie Mae FNM.N posted a $2.1 billion loss in 2007 and its shares fell 33 percent as the subprime mortgage crisis bled into all parts of the mortgage market while home prices fell nearly 9 percent.

Fannie Mae Chief Executive Daniel Mudd also received $5.4 million from stock awards that vested in 2007, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by the company.

Mudd's compensation included just under $1 million in salary, $2.2 million in incentive payments, about $10 million from stock and option grants, and $153,531 in other compensation, according to the filing.

Fannie Mae and its rival Freddie Mac FRE.N hold charters from the government to support homeownership. The companies, which are privately owned, do that by raising money from investors to support combined investments of $1.4 trillion, and honor guarantees on loans backing mortgage securities they issue.

(Reporting by Chris Sanders; Editing by Leslie Adler)