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State Bank of North Carolina is acquiring cross-town mortgage lender Affiliated Mortgage LLC of Raleigh for an undisclosed sum. The agreement calls for the purchase to close on or before February 12, 2010, at which time Affiliated will become a new division of the bank called North State Bank Mortgage. Ken Sykes, Affiliated's managing partner, will serve as president. "Simply put, we are in the relationship banking business," said North State president and chief executive Larry Barbour. "Being able to provide residential mortgages for our customers is a critical part of our commitment to serving them." Affiliated opened its doors in 1994 as a mortgage broker but subsequently became a mortgage banker. "The staff at Affiliated offers excellent service, and culturally our two firms are well-aligned, which is extremely important as we work together," Barbour said. Mr. Sykes noted that both entities serve same clientele.

Clayton Holdings, Shelton, Conn., has hired Raymond Redlingshafer as senior managing director. Mr. Redlingshafer brings more than 25 years of experience to Clayton Holdings including trading MBS and whole loans, managing a fixed-income institutional sales force, founding a mortgage REIT and taking the company public. At Clayton he will focus on expanding the firm's relationships with secondary market participants and on business development and promotion of its core products. "Although the secondary markets have been in turmoil, there remain opportunities in the market," said Paul Bossidy, Clayton's chief executive officer. "Investors need more than data; they need useful information and insights. Ray brings the market acumen and experience to enable Clayton to help our clients succeed."

Ginnie Mae has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years, therefore it faces operational challenges, according to Theodore Tozer, President Obama's nominee to be the agency's new president. Mr. Tozer told the Senate Banking Committee at his confirmation hearing that Ginnie Mae has become a major player in the mortgage-backed securities market and it has to address counter-party risk with its MBS issuers. "Ginnie has a good foundation and dedicated staff and I look forward to working with them, if confirmed, to move the agency to the next level and make it a very solid operation that can support the housing market," he told the senators. It appears that the full Senate, according to lobbyists, will confirm Mr. Tozer. The nominee has worked at National City and now at PNC Financial Services Group as a capital markets executive. Mr. Tozer has been involved in issuing Ginnie Mae MBS since 1986. Ginnie Mae issued $414 billion in MBS last year, up from $97 billion in 2007.

Mortgage brokers are hopeful that the newly elected Senator from Massachusetts — a closing attorney who once worked with loan officers — could come to their aid. State Senator Scott Brown, a Republican, on Tuesday won the open Senate seat created by the death of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) "He understands how things work," said Marc Savitt, president of the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals. A spokeswoman for Mr. Brown confirmed that he has worked as a closing attorney but said it is too early for him to start talking about where he stands on such issues as the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and tighter regulation for loan officers and loan brokers. Still, some mortgage brokers are optimistic on the possibilities. "It certainly can't hurt that he used to do closings," said Mr. Savitt. Richard Shapiro, principal in Asset Mortgage Group of Natick, Mass., said he has not closed loans with Mr. Brown but said one of his staffers has. "He's a small local guy," he said of Mr. Brown. Mr. Shapiro said he is hopeful that if Mr. Brown becomes a member of the Senate Banking Committee he might be able to help brokers with some of the hefty licensing fees they are now being charged.

Mark Savitt, the immediate past president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers — and who recently launched a new trade group — has resigned from NAMB's board of directors, effective immediately. Mr. Savitt said his resignation from NAMB was his own decision but declined to comment further except to say this week he is meeting with government representatives on two key issues facing the industry: the Home Valuation Code of Conduct, and yield spread premiums. Mr. Savitt's new trade group is called the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals. He is president and CEO of the group, which officially launched two weeks ago. At NAMB, George Hanzimanolis, who was the organization's president in 2007- 2008, has been appointed to fill out Mr. Savitt's term and will serve as chairman of NAMB's nominating committee. No reason was given in a statement issued by NAMB.

Morgan Stanley said John Klopp is joining the company as head of Americas real estate investing and global real estate debt, investing effective February 1. Mr. Klopp is a 30-year veteran of the real estate industry, recently serving as CEO of the investment management and real estate finance firm he co-founded, Capital Trust. During his career he was also a founder and managing partner of private merchant banking boutique Victor Capital Group, a specialist in workouts and distressed debt.

The American Securitization Forum has ended its administrative relationship with the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and said its acting executive director will now permanently assume that post. "The ASF has been self-funded and self-governed since its inception in 2002 but has utilized certain operational resources of SIFMA," the former trade group said. "That relationship has ended and the ASF will now independently serve the securitization markets to restore credit flow to Main Street." The group has been particularly focused on setting industry guidelines aimed at restoring new issuance in the residential mortgage-backed securities market. The ASF's board unanimously chose Tom Deutsch to permanently serve as the group's executive director. Previous to serving as acting executive director, Mr. Deutsch had been deputy executive director. Executive director George Miller resigned in December, saying he planned to remain professionally connected to the business but in a different capacity.

Mortgage Cadence Inc., Denver, has hired John Levonick as its chief legal and compliance officer. In his previous positions, he worked with creditors, servicers, secondary market participants and technology vendors to provide guidance on compliance with various laws and regulations that affect the industry. At Mortgage Cadence, Mr. Levonick will work closely with clients to identify and manage compliance risk, help interpret compliance requirements, develop risk mitigation strategies and implement the requisite controls in the company's technology platform.

Chuck Greener, Fannie Mae senior vice president of communications, has left the GSE to take a position with Walgreen Co. in Chicago. He joined Fannie Mae in 2001 as senior vice president of communications. During his tenure, he also had served as chief of staff to the chief executive officer. A spokeswoman for the GSE said she does not know whether he will be replaced.

Amalgamated Bank, New York, named James T. Freel to the position of senior vice president and chief real estate officer in its institutional asset management and custody division. Prior to joining Amalgamated Bank, Mr. Freel was a senior vice president in KeyBank's asset recovery group. While at KeyBank, he also served as senior vice president/income property group.