Westernbank Buys Mortgage Rights From Doral

W Holding Co., Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, has reported that its bank subsidiary, Westernbank Puerto Rico, recently bought additional rights from San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Doral Financial Corp. and its affiliates to perfect the acquisition of mortgage loan pools purchased since 1995.The pools have an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $937.3 billion, the holding company said. The purchases of the loan pools were originally accounted for as sales of the loans by both parties, but Westernbank later determined that it had to recharacterize the transactions on its balance sheet as commercial loans secured by mortgages. Westernbank and Doral then agreed to restructure the transactions. "As a result of this transaction, the bank will record the loan acquisitions as 'true sales'," said Freddy Maldonado, W Holding Co.'s president and chief investment officer. "Thus, the bank will record the mortgage loans as its own, rather than a financing transaction with Doral." Under the terms of the restructuring, the bank received a net compensation of $42.8 million, he said. Westernbank can be found online at http://www.wbpr.com.