IBM Buying Wilshire Servicing Unit from Bank of America

The mortgage servicing division of IBM has agreed to buy the core operating assets of Wilshire Credit Corp., a non-prime subservicing specialist, from Bank of America for an undisclosed sum. IBM expects to retain most of Wilshire's 900 employees. Earlier in the decade Merrill Lynch bought the Beaverton, Ore.-based Wilshire, which at one time had been a subprime originator. (BoA inherited Wilshire when it bought Merrill.) Wilshire services roughly $20 billion in loans, according to industry sources. Wilshire's operating assets will become part of IBM's Lender Business Process Services business unit, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Armonk, N.Y.-based technology giant. Wilshire will work with its clients, IBM and Bank of America to transition its mortgage servicing rights and related assets to Bank of America. The agreement remains subject to customary closing conditions.