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UBS and Wachovia Securities have separately named new global heads for their fixed-income units, whose responsibilities include mortgage-related securities. UBS has named Carsten Kengeter as global head of fixed income, currencies, and commodities within its investment bank, and Wachovia has named Craig Overlander as managing director and global head of fixed income. (Mr. Overlander will assume his post on Sept. 15.) Mr. Kengeter was previously a partner and co-head of Goldman Sachs' securities division for Asia ex-Japan, with responsibility for all FICC products. Mr. Overlander was previously managing director and co-head of fixed income at Bear Stearns.

Michael Nierenberg from JP Morgan will be joining New York-based Merrill Lynch & Co. to head global mortgages and securitized products businesses, and James De Mare from Citigroup will also be joining to run the company's mortgage trading operations. Mr. Nierenberg will report directly to Thomas K. Montag, head of global sales and trading, and Mr. De Mare will report to Mr. Nierenberg. Mr. Nierenberg was most recently JP Morgan's head of global securitized products, a position he held after moving to that firm following its purchase of Bear Stearns earlier this year. Mr. Nierenberg joined Bear Stearns in 1994, moving quickly through the ranks to hold positions such as head of interest rate and foreign exchange trading operations, co-head of structured products and co-head of mortgage-backed securities trading. Before Bear Stearns, Mr. Nierenberg spent seven years at Lehman Brothers, where he was instrumental in building up that firm's adjustable rate mortgage business. Mr. De Mare was with Citigroup for 11 years, having most recently served as the global head of mortgage trading, which included the trading of all securitized products in Citigroup's fixed income currencies and commodities group. He joined Salomon Brothers in 1997 to run its adjustable rate trading business. Prior to joining Salomon in 1997, Mr. De Mare traded agency and non-agency adjustable rate mortgages at Bear Stearns and Prudential Securities.

RBS Greenwich Capital, Greenwich, Conn., has announced an expansion of its mortgage business via the addition of 16 professionals to its mortgage-backed securities team, 15 of them from Bear, Stearns & Co. Leading the new hires is Scott Eichel, who will co-head asset-backed and mortgage trading with RBS veteran David Cannon. The other 15 new employees include seven traders and eight salespeople who join RBS's institutional MBS sales team, the company said. RBS, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Royal Bank of Scotland, can be found online at http://www.rbsgc.com.

Wells Fargo executive vice president Mark Oman -- who made the bank into the mortgage powerhouse it is today -- says he will retire from the company by the end of 2009. Mr. Oman oversees four business groups, including mortgages and card services, which will continue to report to him for the time being. Wells is the nation's second-largest residential lender and servicer, second only to Bank of America/Countrywide, according to figures compiled by the Quarterly Data Report. Over the past 15 years Wells has grown rapidly in mortgages by purchasing nonbank residential firms and merging with other depositories. Under Mr. Oman, Wells also ventured into subprime lending -- once ranking first in that niche -- but has yet to suffer the traumatic losses experienced by other firms. Mr. Oman joined Wells' predecessor bank, Norwest, in 1979 and was named mortgage chief in 1985. Wells Fargo can be found on the Web at http://www.wellsfargo.com.

A management shakeup at Fannie Mae has placed Peter Niculescu in charge of the single-family business and capital markets and named David Hisey the new chief financial officer. Fannie president and chief executive Daniel Mudd said the restructuring is needed to meet the company's goals of conserving capital and controlling credit losses. Mr. Niculescu, executive vice president for capital markets, will replace company veteran and chief business officer Robert Levin, who is retiring. Mr. Hisey will replace CFO Stephen Swad, and Michael Shaw will be the new credit risk officer, replacing Enrico Dallavecchia. "Rob, Steve, and Enrico have all offered to advise and provide any assistance possible to their successors and teams as we put this restructuring in place," Mr. Mudd said. Fannie can be found on the Web at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Frederick B. "Bart" Harvey III, a leader in promoting affordable housing, has been elected to the board of directors of Fannie Mae. Mr. Harvey, 59, retired as chairman of Enterprise Community Partners in March after 24 years with the foundation, of which he was chief executive officer from 1994 to 2007. Fannie Mae said Mr. Harvey worked with Congress to help create the Low Income Housing Tax Credit. "Bart is a perfect addition to Fannie Mae's board -- his life's work represents everything our mission is about: harnessing private enterprise to expand affordable, sustainable housing opportunities," said Daniel H. Mudd, Fannie's president and CEO. Fannie can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.

Five X Securities Inc., Oakton, Va., has been formed to provide what it terms "high-quality real estate opportunities to individual investors," and Daniel Young has been appointed as principal and chief executive officer. The independent broker-dealer said it will initially focus on the apartment sector, as well as seek out opportunities in the industrial and office sectors. "We fully intend to identify investment opportunities and craft institutional-quality deals of the type previously unavailable to individuals," Mr. Young said. "These deals will feature low fees and an alignment of interest between the sponsor and the investor. And it is our intent to distribute to high-net-worth individuals." Mr. Young, 41, had been president and CEO of NFP Securities, Austin, Texas, since 2007, and he previously spent eight years with New York Life Insurance Co. as president and CEO of NY Life Securities and Eagle Strategies, both in New York City.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has promoted Jay Brinkmann to be the trade group's chief economist and senior vice president for research and economics. Mr. Brinkmann joined the MBA in 2001, and the economist has been in charge of research for much of that time. He previously worked at Fannie Mae in the portfolio strategy and credit pricing areas. He replaces Douglas Duncan, who left the MBA in February to be Fannie's chief economist. Mr. Brinkmann has a Ph.D. in finance from Purdue University and a master of business administration from Tulane University.

Loan officer Yale Bertolucci says he is owed $5,650 by Central Pacific Mortgage of Folsom, Calif., a defunct mortgage firm controlled and managed by incoming Mortgage Bankers Association president John Courson. In a recent interview with National Mortgage News, Mr. Bertolucci said he has a state-sanctioned judgment against the company for unpaid wages, adding that he is none too happy that Mr. Courson (who closed CPM in early 2007 after it couldn't handle loan buyback requests from investors) is now in charge of the nation's large mortgage trade group. "He left thousands of employees without their last paychecks," said Mr. Bertolucci, who has yet to collect on his judgment. Mr. Courson declined to comment directly on the judgment. A spokeswoman for the MBA said, "John was trying to sell the company [CPM]. When the sale didn't happen, he was forced to close it. He was unable to make the last payroll." She said there are at least eight judgments against CPM. "I don't know the amounts," the spokeswoman said. "The judgments are against CPM, not John."

Frank Pallotta, a former Morgan Stanley mortgage origination executive, has become chief executive officer and owner of his own company, Steel Curtain Capital Group LLC, Mahwah, N.J. Mr. Pallotta was previously a managing director in Morgan Stanley's fixed-income division. He said his new company specializes in distressed/real estate-owned assets.