RiskSpan, Inc., has named a new senior vice president of business development. The company recently announced the appointment of industry veteran James W. Horne to the leadership position.

Veros Real Estate Solutions has announced a new senior vice president of strategic initiatives. The company recently hired former Fannie Mae vice president, Charles Rumfola, to fill the leadership position. In his new role for Veros, Rumfola will be responsible for managing numerous key initiatives in the secondary markets. Rumfola will remain based in Washington, D.C. while with California-based Veros. Prior to teaming up with Veros, Rumfola performed as Fannie Mae's vice president of single-family strategic initiatives.

A new survey from Zillow, Inc., reveals that rental markets around the U.S. continue to grow. Citing declining home values, the company reported that 70 percent of markets nationwide saw an increase in rents during January. Statistics from Zillow's recent study showed that median rents moved forward by 3 percent on a year-over-year basis in January, and the findings also noted a correlating 4.6 percent drop in home pricing for the same period. January's Zillow Rent Index (ZRI) tallied year-over-year gains in 69.2 percent of all metropolitan areas covered within the report.

JPMorgan Chase has finalized a deal that puts an end to mortgage fraud allegations that created critical headlines for the bank. The company announced on Tuesday that it has reached a settlement in a lawsuit that accused Chase of refinancing fraud against military veterans and taxpayers. In total, Chase will pay the federal government $45 million to conclude the legal issue, which sought to bring the bank to justice for hiding illegal fees within home mortgage refinancing transactions for veterans.

National homebuilder KB Home is partnering with Nationstar Mortgage to offer financing on its homes. KB Home announced Nationstar as its preferred mortgage lender this week, noting, "The agreement with Nationstar is intended to offer KB Home customers a seamless home buying experience, from purchase and mortgage application to picking up the keys to their new home." Nationstar's broad national presence was a major catalyst behind the establishment of the partnership with the homebuilder.

New York City and London are playing home to Mexico's annual housing and economic forum, which seeks to provide information on the country's housing and mortgage industries.

Illinois financial institution New City Bank has closed its door, and the FDIC revealed that it has been unable to find a financial institution to take over the bank's operations.

In Minnesota, a former house flipper was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison for his role in a real estate investment scheme, topping the weekly fraud blotter for TheMReport.com. The hefty sentence for Robert W. Dufrense, Jr., who is accused of bilking more than $5 million out of investors across multiple states, was more elaborate than expected due to an additional charge for obstructing justice. Dufresne was originally convicted of one count of mail fraud and one count of money laundering for a house-flipping scam.

A new real estate investment trust (REIT) team has been appointed at MLV & Co. The recently launched company division will be led by Ryan Meliker, who will serve as MLV's senior REIT analyst.

In Michigan, Main Street Bank is expanding its mortgage banking operations. The financial institutions recently announced the opening of a new mortgage office in downtown Rochester.