Wachovia Mortgage Projecting Market Gain

Wachovia Mortgage Corp., Charlotte, N.C., says it believes it can gain market share in 2004 by leveraging the resources of its $364 billion-asset parent bank.In the wake of the September 2001 merger of Wachovia and First Union Bank (First Union was the acquirer but took the Wachovia name), all real estate lending was brought under one roof, and the mortgage bank was realigned into the general bank. Top officers of the mortgage company, in San Diego for the MBA annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, said Wachovia is poised to triple production through its network of 2,700 retail branches in 11 states from Connecticut to Florida, and hopes to tap heavily the 3,600 Wachovia Securities brokers around the country for mortgage referrals. The three executives -- Bob Burton, head of Wachovia General Bank's retail credit businesses; C.D. Davies, chief operating officer of Wachovia Mortgage; and George Rosario, the mortgage banker's head of retail lending -- told MortgageWire that Wachovia will also look to its wealth management (private banking) operation for leads on jumbo and superjumbo mortgages. This internal leveraging will help Wachovia Mortgage gain market share even in a declining market, the officers said.