Associated Banc, Green Bay, Wisc., ended the first quarter with roughly $500 million of warehouse lending commitments on its books, almost double what it had a year ago.
In the spring of last year the bank made the strategic decision to fund commitments to nonbanks operating outside of its corporate footprint. (Previously, it would only lend to nonbanks that operated in states where Associated had branches.)
Today, it has roughly 25 nonbank clients compared to just eight two years ago.
“I’ve been in this business for 18 years, and this is the best quality book of business I have ever seen, without exception,” company senior executive Matthew Wolfe told National Mortgage News in a recent interview.
But Wolfe added that the bank also is seeing increased competition in the warehouse space. “Our competition is up dramatically from a year ago,” he said. “We see Wells out there, and Chase and Bank of America. We’re also seeing smaller community banks getting in too.” (For the full story see the weekly edition of NMN.)
