South Carolina Bank May Fund $1B Through Brokers in '09

CBC National Bank, Beaufort, S.C., hopes to fund at least $900 million in loans through mortgage brokers this year, more than double its volume from 2008. "It could reach $1 billion or more," said Steve Ralyf, senior vice president in charge of wholesale for the bank. During the first-half CBC table funded $490 million through brokers, a 145% gain from the same period a year earlier. CBC re-entered the wholesale channel in the fall of 2007 after exiting the business in 2004. At the time many of the nation's top wholesale lenders were beginning to scale back their table funding units dramatically or closing them outright. "We saw a major opportunity," said Mr. Ralyf. Currently, the bank has a network of 200 brokers but has no immediate plans to expand its broker network dramatically. Most of the residential loans it funds are in the southeast, in Georgia and Florida. "We're staying in the bank's imprint," he told National Mortgage News.