MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. — Kinecta Federal Credit Union scooped up three new executives from the struggling banking and mortgage sectors, the $4.4 billion cooperative announced Friday.

Karen Christensen was named senior vice president and CFO, following four years at Ameriquest Mortgage and a subsequent stint at Citibank after its September 2007 acquisition of Ameriquest's wholesale mortgage and servicing platforms.

Kevin Faulkner is Kinecta's new senior vice president of operations. He was previously in charge of all IT functions for HSBC's North American Consumer Lending business unit.

Mark Steiman is the credit union's new Chief Human Resources Officer after a decade-long run at Washington Mutual, where he was most recently first vice president/banking channel manager at WaMu's Irvine, Calif. office. His resume also includes experience managing human resources for WaMu's Home Loans division.