Former Fannie Honcho Buying Thrift

A group headed by former Fannie Mae executive Stuart McFarland is buying a controlling stake in a small Indiana thrift chaired by Chuck Chamness, a former Federal Housing Finance Board official.The thrift, Assurance Partners Bank, Carmel, Ind., is owned by the National Association of Mutual Insurance Cos., an Indianapolis-based trade group that represents 1,200 property/casualty insurers with $90 billion in premiums. The thrift, which makes first- and second-lien loans, has about $38 million in assets. (The mortgage products are actually offered to the public through NAMIC's member insurance firms.) Assurance has been losing money since its inception in 2000. Under Mr. McFarland, the thrift will expand by adding retail branches in Indiana as well as Washington, D.C., and Maryland. (See the March 28 issue of National Mortgage News for more details.)