BoA: We're Committed to Wholesale

Bank of America says that it will remain in the wholesale channel and even sees some potential growth in the broker lending niche. "We see opportunities in the wholesale business," said a company spokesman who called the decision by JPMorgan Chase to exit the channel "interesting." He added that, "We have the scale and ability to grow the relationships we have today." BoA, which bought Countrywide Financial Corp. this past summer, has 8,000 approved brokers working for the company. About two years ago CFC had 30,000 approved brokers. Since buying the lender speculation has been rampant that in time BoA would exit the channel but the bank has repeatedly shot down such speculation. According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, BoA ranks sixth among wholesale lenders with a market share of 4.84%.