On October 31, Fed Chairman Bernanke spoke at a symposium on the future of mortgage finance in the United States and indicated that government support will likely continue to play a role in mortgage securitizations in times of economic turmoil. Chairman Bernanke also mentioned several alternatives to the current GSE model, including privatization of the GSEs, providing government-backed insurance for bond financings related to the mortgage market, employing covered bonds or more closely tying the GSEs to the government, with or without private ownership (possibly through restructuring the GSEs using a public utility model, consolidating the GSEs and the FHA, or cooperative ownership structures).  Bernanke’s Speech.