Countrywide execs named to BofA mtg business-WSJ

NEW YORK, June 10 (Reuters) – Bank of America Corp (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) has chosen several senior Countrywide Financial Corp (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) executives to help run its mortgage business after the acquisition of Countrywide is completed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Executive Managing Director Andrew Gissinger will head several groups responsible for selling mortgages to consumers, the paper said.

He will report to Barbara Desoer, a former Bank of America chief technology officer, who is to head the combined consumer mortgage operation.

Late last month, Bank of America said Countrywide President David Sambol would retire rather than take over the combined companies' mortgage operations, pleasing those who saw him as one of the architects of the subprime mortgage crisis.

Sambol, the highest-ranking official at Countrywide after Chief Executive Angelo Mozilo, was named head of the combined mortgage group soon after Bank of America agreed in January to buy mortgage lender Countrywide for $4 billion.

Mozilo intends to leave the combined company. Countrywide shareholders are scheduled to vote on the acquisition on June 25 and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Gregory Lumsden, a senior managing director who ran Countrywide's subprime lending business, for borrowers with weak credit records, plans to step down, the Journal reported.

Countrywide is the largest U.S. mortgage lender and has been a target of consumer advocates, politicians and regulators who have said its lending practices were a prime cause of the nation's housing slump.

FROM NEWSDAY:

"Barack Obama's assertion that he won't vet his own senior aides is totally inconsistent with his rhetoric, but wholly consistent with his own record. This is how Obama ended up in a sweetheart real-estate deal with [convicted Chicago real-estate developer] Tony Rezko," said Alex Conant, a Republican National Committee spokesman. Obama denies any wrongdoing in relation to Rezko.

During the campaign, Obama has criticized Countrywide for giving top executives $20 million payouts, and his campaign had also criticized Hillary Clinton for having a top adviser with ties to the company. Johnson's lawyer defended the loans, first reported in Saturday's edition of The Wall Street Journal, as within industry standards.

Despite the controversy, Johnson was on the job Tuesday, talking to senators about what Obama is looking for in a running mate. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who was thought to be on Obama's veep short list, took himself out of the running.