Sterling Bancorp has followed through with its plan to sell its mortgage business. The buyer in the transaction is a non-bank that ranks among the nation’s biggest home lenders.
In its second-quarter earnings report, Sterling reported that its mortgage banking income totaled $2.4 million, not quite as much as the $2.5 million earned a year earlier.
Jack Kopinsky, the company’s president and chief executive officer, noted in the report that a definitive agreement was reached to divest the mortgage origination business.
“We will reallocate capital and resources from these businesses to other businesses that are more in line with our diversified commercial banking strategy and where we can achieve risk-adjusted returns that exceed our targets,” Kopinsky said of planned sales of multiple businesses.
The
Montibello, New York-based company has now completed the sale of the mortgage unit.
On Monday, Freedom
Mortgage Corp. reported that it has competed its acquisition of the residential loan origination operations of Sterling-subsidiary Sterling National Bank.
The transaction, which closed Friday, includes the transition of around 70 Sterling employees.
The $0.673 billion in residential loans on Sterling’s balance as of June 30 are not part of the sale and will be retained by the bank.
With the acquisition, Freedom picks up business mainly in the greater New York and Hudson Valley markets.
“We look forward to carrying on the tradition of excellence that has been a Sterling National Bank hallmark since 1888,” Freedom Mortgage Chief Executive Officer Stanley C. Middleman said in the announcement. “The entire region will benefit from the fast response, personalized service and complete range of home mortgages that Freedom offers throughout the United States.”
As part of the Mortgage Daily Second Quarter 2016 Mortgage Origination Survey, Freedom reported $13.3 billion in second-quarter production — making it the eighth-largest U.S. lender based on a preliminary analysis of second-quarter data.
