Non-Bank Share of Mortgage LOs Continues to Expand

There were 562,837 originators who were registered or licensed through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System as of the fourth-quarter 2016.

Not only was that more than the 536,804 total as of a year earlier, it was also the most on record since reports were first issued for the fourth-quarter 2011.

The latest data was presented in the
NMLS Mortgage Industry Report 2016 Q4 Update from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors.

The fourth-quarter 2016 total included 145,253 state-licensed originators who held a total of 487,973 licenses.

In Missouri, the number of originators licensed grew 48 percent on a year-over-year basis — more than any other state. Maine increased 42 percent, while Arizona saw a 40 percent increase, Iowa was up 38 percent and Colorado expanded by
35 percent.

Another
422,579 bank originators were on the federal registry. The total included 225,396 at banks regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, 88,628 employed by banks supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., 61,038 working at credit unions regulated by the National Credit Union Administration, 47,421 on the payroll of banks overseen by the Federal Reserve Board and 1,923 at financial institutions regulated by the Farm Credit Administration. 

Overall mortgage loan originator count was reduced by 4,995 to reflect originators who held both a state license and federal registration.

The non-bank share of originators on the NMLS system was 26 percent, widening from 25 percent in the third quarter and in the fourth-quarter 2015. In fact, it was the widest non-bank share on record.

The report indicated that a total of 26,089 companies were on the NMLS database as of the fourth-quarter 2016, rising from 26,127 one year earlier.

NMLS company registrations included 16,355 state-licensed companies with 40,158 licenses. These firms had 22,937 branches licensed with 56,001 licenses.

An additional 9,831 financial institutions were registered on NMLS.