The mortgage division of the bank owned by Taylor Capital Group Inc. has acquired servicing rights on home loans from another bank and picked up a servicing platform in the process.
Cole Taylor Mortgage already maintained a $10.5 billion mortgage servicing portfolio as of March 31, according previously release earnings data.
However, the servicing on those loans is handled through a third-party mortgage servicer. So the Chicago-based firm is establishing its own mortgage servicing platform.
A news release Tuesday from Cole Taylor Bank indicated that the new platform will be located in Wilmington, Ohio.
The move was made with the purchase of mortgage servicing rights on around 4,600 home loans from Liberty Savings Bank, FSB. The deal included Cole Taylor’s acquisition office space, furniture and equipment from Liberty Savings Bank.
Cole Taylor said it expects to hire all of Liberty Savings Bank’s 50 servicing employees in the third quarter.
An “experienced platform manager” has been hired for the unit.
Cole Taylor said it plans to continue using the third-party servicer on its existing servicing portfolio until at least early next year, while the loans involved in the MSR acquisition will continue to be serviced by Liberty Savings Bank’s servicing employees until they have been assimilated at Cole Taylor.
Mark A. Hoppe, president and chief executive officer of Cole Taylor Bank, explained that the new platform will enable the mortgage company to “directly manage the operations and related costs associated with mortgage servicing, and most importantly, customer care related to its growing residential mortgage servicing portfolio.”
