Career moves

Neil Kornswiet, an executive and attorney with deep roots in the subprime industry, has been hired by Pacific Mercantile Bancorp, Costa Mesa, to manage its residential mortgage division.

Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp., Houston, which recently settled with HUD concerning alleged branch violations, has appointed two state managers to act as compliance auditors for the company.

Title insurance giant First American Financial Corp., Santa Ana, Calif., Friday named Max O. Valdes chief financial officer, and Mark E. Seaton senior vice president of finance.

Specialized Loan Servicing LLC, Littleton, Colo., has hired Oscar Southall as senior vice president of default operations.

The nation's top accounting standard setter is retiring.Robert Herz, the chairman of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, announced that he will step down after eight years. Leslie Seidman, a FASB board member since 2003 and a former JPMorgan Chase & Co. accounting policy vice president, was appointed acting chairman, effective Oct. 1.

Jess Lederman, who a few months ago left Kinecta Federal Credit Union, is now heading up Great Western, a mortgage affiliate of Frontier Bank FSB, Park City, Utah.

Loan Value Group LLC has hired an executive from an institutional asset management firm as its chief financial officer and general counsel.

PartnerFirst LLC, Corona, Calif., has named an executive who has worked at Fidelity National Financial Cos. as a new principal and chief development officer.

Citizens Financial Group has named a former marketing and business development executive from SunTrust Mortgage Inc. as president of its Home Lending Solutions business.

John Walsh, the former chief of staff to the Comptroller of the Currency, is now the acting Comptroller of the agency that supervises national banks.

The Comptroller of the Currency Tuesday promoted Karen Solomon to be the agency's new deputy chief counsel.

Knight Capital Group Inc. has expanded its mortgage- and asset-backed securities capabilities in commercial real estate finance by hiring two managing directors in its Knight Libertas LLC unit.

Originator and servicer Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC, Horsham, Pa., has appointed Hugh F. Frater to replace departing chief executive officer Michael I. Lipson.

MountainView Capital Holdings LLC has acquired Capmark Securities Inc. and a team of fixed-income professionals from Madison Williams and Co. LLC.

After being at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for little more than a year, Michael Bradfield, the agency's general counsel, announced Friday he has resigned and plans to leave by the end of this week.

Peter Diamond's nomination for a seat on the Federal Reserve Board has been sent back to President Obama for reconsideration.

Joseph Jiampietro, a key advisor on failed bank resolutions, is leaving the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. after 16 months at the agency.

Rick Rieder, who has been head of corporate credit at BlackRock, has taken on responsibility for the multi-sector and mortgage group at the company in his promotion to chief investment officer.

John Robbins, who five years ago sold his nonbank mortgage firm to Wachovia at a nice profit, is looking to reenter the industry, according to officials familiar with his plans.

The Senate Banking Committee approved the nominations of Janet Yellen, Peter Diamond and Sarah Bloom Raskin to be members of the Federal Reserve Board.