Bank One Exiting Wholesale, Sells to RBC

RBC Mortgage, Chicago, has inked a deal to purchase the wholesale lending division of Bank One Corp., Chicago. No purchase price was disclosed.The move takes Bank One totally out of the wholesale market for both first and second residential liens. A spokesman for Bank One told MortgageWire that the bank decided to exit the wholesale arena because "we don't have the scale to compete." The bank will continue to make first and second liens through its bank imprint. In a prepared statement, RBC chief operating officer Dave Matthews said, "We will gain significant expertise in home equity operations, which will allow us to build a national home equity business, one of our key strategic initiatives." RBC officials could not be reached for further comment by MW's deadline. According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, Bank One is the 37th-largest wholesaler in the United States, and RBC is 38th, based on first-quarter survey results. The two firms together would rank 28th based on first-quarter wholesale production. RBC is owned by Royal Bank of Canada. (See the June 2 issue of NMN for full details.)