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Frank Korzekwinski has been named executive vice president and chief of real estate lending at Flushing Savings Bank FSB, a subsidiary of Flushing Financial Corp., Lake Success, N.Y.Mr. Frank, 44, will assume responsibility for residential mortgage and servicing operations and will retain his responsibilities with the Commercial Real Estate Department, Flushing said. Before joining Flushing Savings Bank in 1993, Mr. Frank was a vice president and mortgage officer at Bankers Federal Savings Bank and vice president of secondary marketing for a mortgage banking company. Flushing can be found on the Web at http://www.flushingsavings.com.

Radian Group Inc., the Philadelphia-based parent company of mortgage insurer Radian Guaranty, has announced the promotions of Scott Theobald and David Rockwell to positions as senior vice president.Mr. Theobald was named SVP of corporate risk and capital management at Radian Group, and Mr. Rockwell was named SVP of risk management at Radian Asset Assurance Inc. Mr. Theobald joined Radian in 1997 as director of costing analytics and was appointed vice president of structured transactions in 1999 and vice president of enterprise risk in 2002, the company said. Before joining Radian, he served at Freddie Mac in a variety of analyst positions. Mr. Rockwell joined Radian in 2004 as vice president of risk management. He previously held senior posts managing risk at Marsh & McLennan, Chubb Financial Solutions, and American International Group. Radian can be found on the Web at http://www.radian.biz.

Robert K. Cole will retire as chairman of New Century Financial Corp., Irvine, Calif., and Fredric J. Forster will assume the role of non-executive chairman of the board on Jan. 1, New Century has announced.Mr. Cole, who co-founded the real estate investment trust in 1995 with Brad Morrice and Ed Gotschall, will continue as a member of the board. "Now that there has been a smooth transition of the chief executive officer role to Brad, I plan to retire from my position as chairman of the board at the end of this year," Mr. Cole said. Mr. Forster, New Century's lead independent director, has been a board member since 1997. He was formerly president and chief operating officer of H.F. Ahmanson and Co. and its subsidiary, Home Savings of America. New Century can be found on the Web at http://www.ncen.com.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight has filed charges against three former Fannie Mae executives, including Franklin Raines, for manipulating earnings to maximize bonuses and for leading the mortgage giant into a $6.3 billion accounting scandal.Along with a notice of charges, OFHEO is seeking $100 million in civil money penalties and disgorgement of $115 million in 1998-2003 bonuses paid to Mr. Raines, a former chairman and chief executive officer; former chief financial officer Timothy Howard; and former comptroller Leanne Spencer. "The notice explains how they submitted six years of misleading and inaccurate accounting statements and inaccurate capital reports that enabled them to grow Fannie Mae in an unsafe and unsound manner," OFHEO Director James Lockhart said. "The misconduct cost the enterprise and shareholders many billions of dollars and damaged the public trust." An attorney representing Mr. Raines said the charges are "false" and called the OFHEO director a "fatally biased regulator."

U.S. Bancorp's president and chief operating officer has officially stepped up to the post of chief executive officer.The new CEO, Richard K. Davis, succeeds Jerry A. Grundhofer in the post as part of a pre-existing succession plan. Mr. Davis will retain his title of president and Mr. Grundhofer will remain with U.S. Bancorp as chairman of the board. The two men have worked together since 1993.

Michael J. Wheeler has been named a senior vice president and manager of the West region of American Home Mortgage Retail Lending Division.The company, the retail lending division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., said Mr. Wheeler will be responsible for helping build the sales region in California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. For the past eight years, Mr. Wheeler served as a district manager for National City Mortgage. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.americanhm.com.

CIT Commercial Real Estate, a unit of CIT Group Inc., has announced the appointments of Greg Geletka, Bruce Quinn, Jerome Sanzo, Natalie Wilensky, and Timothy Zietara as managing directors and senior executives.Mr. Geletka, a former managing director at Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage, was named a managing director and chief investment officer. Mr. Quinn, a former president and chief executive officer of Cushman & Wakefield Net Lease Trust Inc., was named managing director and head of sale-leaseback financing. Mr. Sanzo, formerly a senior vice president at GE Capital Markets Inc., where he managed the real estate loan syndications and sales team, was named a managing director and head of real estate capital markets. Ms. Wilensky, formerly a principal and member of Hilco Real Estate LLC, has been named a managing director and serves as a senior investment banker for the advisory group. Mr. Zietara, who was formerly a senior vice president and regional manager of Wells Fargo's Real Estate Group, was named a managing director and head of real estate structured finance.

Jeff D. Thompson has been named to the newly created post of executive vice president and head of construction lending management at United Western Bancorp Inc., Denver.Mr. Thompson was most recently senior vice president and real estate and construction lending manager at Colorado Business Bank, Denver. He was previously a senior vice president in various capacities at FirstBank Holding Co., Lakewood, Colo. United Western can be found on the Web at http://www.uwbancorp.com.

Mitch Freifeld has announced his resignation as president of Global Branch Solutions to start Branch Management Solutions, Clearwater, Fla., which will provide guidance on recruiting, marketing, and training.The move "represents the culmination of years of work in the mortgage industry," Mr. Freifeld said. "My company's core focus will be to represent and market an innovative, new branch organization that will be making its debut in early 2007." Mr. Freifeld previously served for over 20 years as president of United Shelter Homes. He said he will maintain "a strong focus" on his work with the Coalition Against Broker Fraud, which he co-founded early this year in response to mounting fraud-related losses at mortgage firms.

Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating has been named an advisory director of Stewart Information Services Corp., the Houston-based parent company of Stewart Title Co.Mr. Keating is president and chief executive officer of the American Council of Life Insurers, a post he took in January 2003 after serving two terms as governor of Oklahoma. Stewart noted that Mr. Keating "won national acclaim in 1995 for his compassionate and professional handling of the Oklahoma City bombing." He also served in various federal posts under former presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Stewart can be found on the Web at http://www.stewart.com.