Fifth Third Bancorp’s quarterly mortgage production was down by more than half from a year earlier. The good news is that delinquency was lower and the servicing portfolio grew.
Fourth-quarter residential loan originations were $2.6 billion, according to earnings data reported Thursday.
Business slid from $4.8 billion in the prior three-month period and plunged from $7.0 billion in the final three months in 2012.
The latest activity brought full-year production to $22.3 billion, not as good as the $25.1 billion originated during all of 2012.
Refinance share fell to 49 percent in the fourth quarter from 57 percent in the prior period.
Fifth Third finished 2013 with a third-party mortgage servicing portfolio of $69.159 billion, up from $68.987 billion the previous quarter. The bank serviced $62.465 billion for investors as of the end of 2012.
The Cincinnati-based company owned $12.680 billion in residential loans, off from $12.534 billion at the end of the previous quarter but higher than $12.017 billion at the end of the previous year.
Mortgage delinquency of at least 90 days fell to 0.52 percent from 0.58 percent and was 0.62 percent a year earlier.
Another $9.246 billion in home-equity loans were on the balance sheet, slipping from $9.356 billion as of Sept. 30 and dropping from $10.018 billion as of Dec. 31, 2012.
Delinquency on the brokered portion of the HELÂ portfolio was deemed “not meaningful,” falling from the prior quarter’s rate of 0.88 percent and 1.05 percent at the end of the prior year.
On direct-originated HELs, the past-due rate was also considered “not meaningful,” down from 0.43 percent three months earlier and 0.50 percent a year earlier.
The commercial mortgage servicing portfolio closed out last year at $0.274 billion, slipping from $0.284 billion at the end of September. A year earlier, the third-party commercial mortgage servicing portfolio was $0.325 billion.
Commercial mortgages in Fifth Third’s investment portfolio inched up to $8.066 billion from $8.052 billion at the end of third quarter but were down from $9.103 billion at the end of the fourth-quarter 2012.
The delinquency rate on commercial real estate loans was considered “not meaningful.” At the end of 2012, the rate was 0.24 percent.
Another 1.039 billion in commercial construction loans were on the books, more than $0.875 billion owned three months earlier and $0.698 billion on the books 12 months earlier.
Delinquency was “not meaningful” on this portion of the investment portfolio, the same as in the previous quarter. As of the fourth-quarter 2012, the rate was 0.14 percent.
Outstanding counterparty claims finished December at $46 million.
At the bank-holding company, income prior to income taxes fell to $561 million from $604 million but improved from $540 million in the final three months of 2012.
“Fifth Third reported full year net income available to common shareholders of $1.8 billion in 2013, which marks the best result in our company’s history and represents 17 percent growth from strong 2012 earnings,” said Kevin T. Kabat, vice chairman and chief executive officer of Fifth Third said in the report.
As of the close of last year, 19,446 full-time employees were on staff, fewer than 20,256 at the end of September and 20,798 at the end of 2012.
The number of banking centers was down by six to 1,320 as of Dec. 31, 2013.
