Commercial Cap Realigns Lending Ops

Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc., Irvine, Calif., has reported a realignment of its lending operations under which the origination, underwriting, and processing functions have been shifted from its commercial mortgage banking subsidiary to its banking subsidiary.The realignment will make Commercial Capital Bank the originator of most of the company's loans, the company said. Before the realignment, Financial Institutional Partners Mortgage Corp. originated all the company's multifamily and commercial real estate loans. Because of transaction rules governing purchases of loans from nonbank affiliates, the bank was permitted to buy less than 50% of FIPMC's originations, the parent company said. "Our business strategy has generated growth in recurring interest income as the bank grew its loan portfolio by purchasing loans from FIPMC, as well as near-term earnings from noninterest income generated on loans originated and sold by FIPMC to third parties," said Stephen H. Gordon, chairman and chief executive officer of Commercial Capital Bancorp. "But every time FIPMC sells a loan, the buyer gets the valuable, ongoing interest income from that point forward." FIPMC will continue to use its warehouse line of credit to fund and sell loans the bank assigns to it.