Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) fired a few of its most senior managers. That includes its CFO and head of risk management. At a mortgage finance company, that is as close to the top of the pyramid as an executive gets unless that person is already the CEO.

The timing was awfully odd. All of the people moved out had been at Fannie Mae for at least a year. Over the last several days, the company's shares have turned upward as the market begins to believe that a federal bailout will not be needed to shore up its finances.

According to the AP, "banking industry consultant Bert Ely, a longtime Fannie and Freddie critic, was unimpressed by the changes, noting that the company promoted current executives, rather than hiring from outside." Ely makes some sense. When Fannie Mae began to get into trouble in early March, all of the key executives kept their jobs. They seemed to be good at what they were doing, or why would CEO Daniel Mudd have kept them on the job? When Fannie Mae's stock began to sell down aggressively in June, the team was not booted. When shares collapsed in July and were off over 70% from the beginning of the year, the whole gang was still getting salaries.

Wall Street may want to ask Mudd why he waited so long. At a lot of places, he would be the guy on his way out.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 247wallst.com.