PennyMac CIO Departs, New One Named

PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust, Calabasas, Calif. said its chief investment officer, Michael Muir, has resigned effective March 2. No reason was given for his departure. The publicly traded mortgage vulture fund named Vandad Fartaj as its new CIO, effective March 3. A spokeswoman for PennyMac said Mr. Fartaj has been with the company since its inception two years ago. As CIO Mr. Fartaj will be responsible for all capital markets activities, including asset valuation, trading, hedging and research. Mr. Fartaj also was named chief capital markets officer for two PennyMac affiliates. Prior to joining PennyMac, he held a number of positions at Countrywide Securities Corp., a broker-dealer, including vice president of whole loan trading. Later this year PennyMac hopes to launch its lending conduit.