For a while it looked as though MetLife wanted to be a top player in mortgage banking. But not anymore. Late last week, the insurance conglomerate said it would explore a sale of MetLife Home Loans, Irving, Texas, stressing that it might only sell its “forward” business.
Among residential lenders and servicers MetLife Home Loans ranks 12th and 10th, respectively, according to NMN and the Quarterly Data Report.
Industry observers noted that the wording of its announcement means that MetLife likely will stay in reverse lending, where it has a sizeable presence. A spokesman told NMN that the reverse business has “operating and capital characteristics that are different.” He added, “We plan to continue our reverse mortgage origination operations, but I would note that, as a public company, we continuously evaluate all of our businesses.”
MetLife said it decided to explore a sale of its mortgage operations because “today's uncertain marketplace and regulatory environment require a tremendous amount of resources—both in terms of people and capital—to effectively compete in and profitably grow the forward mortgage business. Doing so would divert these resources away from MetLife's primary focus.”
MetLife also operates a warehouse lending unit, which had been growing rapidly until recently. A source said the warehouse business likely will be moved into the bank and sold with that company, which is based in New Jersey.
