The nation's five largest funders of home mortgages — most of which fall into the 'megabank' category — had a blowout fourth quarter in terms of residential originations, with one glaring exception: Bank of America.
B of A, which ranked second overall in production, according to figures compiled by National Mortgage News, originated $85 billion in loans, a decent showing, but a 4% drop compared to last year.
The funding decline at B of A comes three months after it announced its departure from the wholesale channel, a line of business that accounted for just 7% of its total fundings in 3Q. (It is still strong in retail and correspondent lending, however.)
A spokesman for the bank said the decline is due to B of A "making a strategic decision to take capacity" away from its origination unit and shift it over to the servicing of distressed loans, including modification efforts. "It impacted our fourth quarter results," he said.
He added that roughly 2,500 B of A workers were moved from "sales and fulfillment" roles into servicing and modification related functions.
In the fourth quarter, Wells Fargo ranked first among all residential originators with $128 billion (up 35%), followed by B of A, JPMorgan Chase ($56 billion/up 55%), Residential Capital Corp. ($24 billion/up 32%), and Citigroup ($22 billion/up 100%).
For the full ranking and more details see the weekly edition of National Mortgage News.
