Thrift industry veteran George Engelke announced that he will step down as CEO of Astoria Financial Corp., a top ranked residential and multifamily lender in the New York area, but will remain as chairman of the company. His departure date is July 1.
Engelke, 72, held the CEO post for 22 years, steering the $18 billion thrift through both the S&L crisis and the housing/mortgage bust which began in earnest in late 2007. In total, he has worked at the Lake Success-based S&L for 40 years. (A decade ago the company was based in Astoria, Queens.)
He will be replaced as CEO by Monte Redman, a 33-year veteran of the company who for the past three years served as president and chief operating officer.
Meanwhile, Astoria posted net earnings of almost $24 million in the fourth quarter, almost triple what it earned in the year ago quarter.
However, the lender's balance sheet of residential holdings fell to $10.9 billion at yearend, a $1 billion drop from a year ago. Its multifamily assets declined to $3 billion, down 11%.
Regarding the balance sheet declines, Engelke stated, "The combination of conforming 30-year fixed-rate mortgage interest rates at historic lows and high conforming loan limits, resulting from the U.S. Government's efforts to stimulate housing loan demand, has had a negative impact on jumbo hybrid ARM portfolio lenders such as Astoria, with mortgage loan prepayments outpacing our loan origination volume, resulting in a contraction of the loan portfolio and balance sheet."
He added that, "We have chosen not to retain for portfolio 30 year fixed-rate conforming mortgage loans or loosen our credit standards simply to facilitate balance sheet growth."
