Provident Financial Hires Dozens of Ex-MetLife Staffers

Provident Financial Holdings Inc., Riverside, Calif., has hired 40 people from MetLife Home Loans to run three new retail mortgage loan production offices in Northern California. 

Many of the new hires started on Wednesday and the $1.3 billion-asset company hopes to have the new offices in Roseville, San Rafael and Fairfield, Calif., opened by March 1, Craig G. Blunden, Provident's chairman and chief executive, said Thursday. The new employees include 26 retail production staffers and 14 support staffers.

Provident currently has a dozen mortgage retail offices throughout California. The company's mortgage banking division has been operating in Northern California for the last six years, Blunden said in a statement.

MetLife announced in January that it had shut down its mortgage origination business and let go most of its 4,300 workers after the insurance giant could not find a buyer for the unit.

A handful of other lenders have hired laid off MetLife Home Loan staffers, including Caliber Funding, and Skyline Lending, both of which are based in California.