Government

Prospect Mortgage announced its acquisition of the Diamond Mortgage Group, bringing to Prospect a group of dedicated mortgage professionals serving Southeastern Connecticut.

WFG Title Company of California announced the hiring of a new SVP and Orange County manager. The company named Bryan Kelley in the role.

The United States Senate voted Monday to confirm Janet Yellen as chair of the Federal Reserve following Ben Bernanke's departure at the end of January. She will be the first woman to take the job in the Fed's history.

After months of contentious debate, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) finally has a new director.

First Financial Bancorp is now serving the Fort Wayne, Indiana, market following the company's hiring of commercial and residential mortgage teams in the area.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) recovered nearly $8 billion last year in its pursuit of funds related to allegedly fraudulent loan sales to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In Virginia, Genworth Financial, Inc., announced the hiring of Lori M. Evangel as EVP and chief risk officer.

NewOak announced the appointment of Neil McPherson as head of business development. McPherson, who was part of the original business development team when NewOak launched in 2008, returns to the firm with responsibility for coordinating NewOak├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔÇ×┬ós client development efforts across all its business lines: valuation and risk advisory, litigation consulting and dispute resolution, mortgage credit services, and financial technology solutions.

Richard Koch, SVP at Morningstar Credit Ratings, sat down with Mortgage Markets Today to discuss how regulations issued by the CFPB will impact servicers in 2014.

Construction spending in November reached an estimated seasonally adjusted rate of $934.4 billion, up from $925.1 billion in October and $882.7 billion in November 2012, according to the Census Bureau. Private residential construction spending rose 1.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted $345.5 billion in November. Year-over-year private residential construction spending increased 16.6 percent. Single-family construction spending rose 1.8 percent over the month, while multifamily construction spending rose 0.9 percent.