South & Associates, P.C., hired four new attorneys, the firm announced.

Low interest rates and better debt management brought mortgage delinquencies down in Q2, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported Wednesday. The New York Fed released its latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, revealing that the delinquency rate for mortgages declined from the first quarter to 6.3 percent. Meanwhile, an estimated 256,000 consumers had a foreclosure notation added to their credit reports, the lowest number since mid-2007.

The California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) issued a release Thursday criticizing the banks on going back to business as usual by forgoing principal reduction efforts and prioritizing short sales, a plan most banks were using before the settlement was announced. While California attorney general Kamala Harris managed to negotiate a plan that includes $12 billion in principal reduction for homeowners in the state, CRC said banks have been reluctant to uphold that responsibility.

California attorney general Kamala Harris announced Thursday that the final parts of the California Homeowner Bill of Rights have passed out of both houses and are awaiting action from the governor. Harris said the entirety of the Homeowner Bill of Rights stems from need to help homeowners and implement the sorts of reform that were outlined in the national mortgage settlement. Once signed into law, all aspects of the legislative package will take effect at the start of 2013.

Carrington Holding Company brought two new leaders into its family of companies.

Churchill Mortgage announced that the company has seen a massive increase in FHA refinance business since the FHA Streamline Refinance incentive took effect in June 2011.

A study completed by the University of Miami School of Business Administration suggests that fragile market bubbles could be prevented if the public were aware of how assets are valued. The research, set to be published in the Journal of Financial and Qualitative Analysis, analyzed China's 2007 stock market. The study found that stocks with a bigger amount of analyst coverage experienced significantly smaller bubbles than those that weren't covered as well.

Following a rigorous and thorough search process, Barclays Bank announced Thursday that Antony Jenkins has been appointed as director and CEO of the bank. Jenkins succeeds former CEO Bob Diamond, who was one of several officers who resigned in the wake of a rates manipulation scandal.

OpExNow announced Wednesday that the company has named Israel Rodriguez as VP and managing director of talent acquisition and management.

Vericrest Financial, Inc., announced that David Slear has joined the company as SVP of default services.