Origination

FDIC-insured banks continued to show improving health in the year's third quarter, the agency reported Tuesday. Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by FDIC reported aggregate net income of $37.6 billion in Q3, up $2.3 billion (or 6.6 percent) from a reported $35.2 billion in Q3 2011. Aggregate net income has increased on a year-over-year basis for 13 straight quarters. Total loan balances also increased for the fifth time in the last six quarters.

President Obama has appointed two new chairs to lead the FDIC's board of directors, the agency announced. Martin J. Gruenberg is the board's new chairman, and Thomas M. Hoenig is the vice chairman.

In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, ServiceLink has appointed a new company leader, naming Kevin Coop as EVP of enterprise strategy. In his new role, Coop will head up business development for ServiceLink's originations and default sales teams, as well as coordinating the company's marketing group and product development strategy team.

The always-expensive Manhattan real estate market has gained a sky-high listing with an equally lofty price tag, with the former home of architect Paul Rudolph recently hitting the market for $27.5 million. According to Curbed, Rudolph is famous for creating "some of the country's best known Brutalist structures," and his legendary former residence boasts three spacious apartments which are now for sale collectively.

In a testimonybefore two House subcommittees, Fifth Third Bancorp CFO Daniel Poston (speaking on behalf of the American Bankers Association) urged the withdrawal of Basel III's "standardized approach" in light of the burdens it would bring to banks and to the overall economy. In his testimony, Poston said that most banks have no problem with capital requirements and noted capital levels are already high. The problem, he said, lies in the "arbitrary--and excessive--risk weights that will hurt banks, our customers, and the U.S. economy overall."

Mortgage fraud cases declined by 15 percent over the third quarter of this year, while the dollar amount involved in mortgage fraud cases declined by just 6 percent, according to the Third Quarter 2012 Mortgage Fraud Index released Monday by MortgageDaily.com. This disparity in declines points to an increase in the amount of money involved in each case during the quarter, according to Mortgage Daily. The total dollar amount of loans involved in mortgage fraud cases in Q3 was $1.7 billion, up from $1.3 billion in the same period last year.

Pennsylvania's GMH Mortgage Services LLC announced the addition of Bill Bogle as SVP of capital markets. Bogle has worked in the mortgage industry for more than 15 years, having served most recently at New Penn Financial as VP of secondary marketing.

Kinecta Federal Credit Union's mortgage volume reached more than $3 billion at the end of October, exceeding its 2011 volume with a full quarter still remaining.

Cincinnati-based eLynx announced its compliance with all guidelines for obtaining electronic signatures on Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) has been elected chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Hensarling replaces Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Alabama) who headed the committee for the past six years.