Processing, Warehouse, and Non-QM Products; Why Bank Mergers are Picking Up

Some banks have concluded they will have to support Libor after 2021, when alternative rates are in place. The banks hope to avoid disruption from a sudden discontinuation of Libor. Why does it matter? Plenty of adjustable rate mortgages, and lender warehouse lines, are tied to it. We don’t need confusion.

Upcoming Events

Do you want to close more loans but feel they are getting harder to source? Find out what originators can do when the conventional well runs dry. Join industry veterans, the CFO of CoreVest, and the company’s VP of Wholesale, via live webcast on June 20th to discover how investment property loans can be your ticket to growing more business and more clients. Sign up for the free webcast through this link. 

Register for the June 12th California MBA Legal Issued Committee webinar. Featured topics include New Developments in Receivership, Employment Law and Wells Fargo Ruling and an update on CFPB and RFIs.

On June 12th, Plaza is providing a webinar learning opportunity on how to review and calculate miscellaneous income sources.

Lending solutions provider Data Facts is sponsoring a complimentary webinar "TRID 2.0: Clarity and Improvement Coming in 2018" today, June 12, at 1 pm CDT. Register here. Keep Data Facts in mind as a trusted partner you can rely on for credit reports, debt monitoring, fraud products, tax return and social security verifications, flood certs, appraisal ordering, bankruptcy, lien, and judgment reports, and more.

AmeriHome’s underwriting management team will be offering a new Core Jumbo webinar on the following dates in June: June 12th or June 19th and June 21st.

Learn the benefits of digital closings with eOriginal’s June 14th webinar. In this session, industry experts will focus on digital closings, including what is possible today, key components, the benefits of a fully digital solution and the obstacles that remain for full adoption.

ACUMA is holding a workshop for mortgage-lending credit unions in Minneapolis next week.

Join SWMC’s Reverse Mortgage Specialist on June 20th to learn the basic principles required to originate and process reverse mortgages.

This year's MBAH Annual State Conference, "Loan Rangers" is scheduled for June 28th and 29th at The Hawaii Prince Hotel Waikiki in Honolulu. Presentations by key speakers will discuss the mortgage industry, the local economy and what to expect in 2018. Click here for info.

loanDepot Wholesale offers live 60-minute Renovation Lending webinars: Tuesday, June 26 at 11AM PST or Friday, June 29 at 11AM PST.

Register for the CMLA Western Chapter luncheon on June 28th. Steve Richman National Spokesperson, Genworth Mortgage Insurance, will explore common business clichés and how they need to be changed to be relevant in today’s evolving market.

The fabled Western Secondary Market Conference will be July 16th-18th at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco.

Mergers and Acquisitions

California’s AmWest Funding Corp. (doing business in 29 states and the District of Columbia with retail, wholesale, and correspondent channels) has acquired Georgia’s Bridgeway Financial, LLC, a retail mortgage lender doing business in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Texas and Virginia. Bridgeway is a direct lender that provides consumer-direct mortgage origination services, and Bridgeway Financial will operate as a DBA of AmWest Funding Corp. (Questions can be addressed to Richard Donine, AmWest’s National Marketing Director.)

German building materials maker Knauf is buying American building products maker USG for $44 per USG share. Recall that Citizens Bank ($158B, RI) will acquire Franklin American Mortgage Co. (TN) for about $511mm in cash (100%) or about 1.1x tangible book. FAMC manages a $41B mortgage servicing portfolio. On the credit union side of things, the NCUA approved 43 credit union mergers in Q1 of this year vs. 47 for the prior quarter and 44 in Q1 of 2017. What about banks?

When President Trump signed legislation modifying regulations imposed after the credit crisis, banks with assets greater than $10 billion immediately surged onto the radar screen as acquisition targets. That’s due in large part to the fact that the new law raises the asset threshold for systemically important financial institutions to $250 billion from $50 billion. As such, banks with assets of $25 billion on up to about $200 billion can now buy smaller banks without having to deal with onerous regulatory scrutiny and limitations as to how they deploy capital. Banks $10 billion or larger in assets will likely see a significant surge in selling in the next few years, as larger banks ramp back up their M&A activity.

CapStar Financial Holdings, Inc. (Nashville, TN) and Athens Bancshares Corporation (Athens, TN) agreed to merge. CorTrust Bank ($801mm, SD) will acquire State Bank of Delano ($91mm, MN). In Illinois Midwest Bank ($444mm) will acquire Andalusia Community Bank ($40mm). In Kentucky, newly formed bank holding company First Capital Bancorp Inc. will acquire The First National Bank of Jackson ($104mm. In Pennsylvania Orrstown Bank ($1.6B) will acquire First Community Bank of Mercersburg ($184mm) for about $32.4mm in cash (15%) and stock (85%) or about 1.53x tangible book, and The Farmers National Bank of Emlenton ($756mm, PA) will acquire Community First Bank ($131mm, PA) for about $17mm in cash and stock.

Hanmi Bank ($5.3B, CA) will acquire Southwestern National Bank ($411mm, TX) for about $76.7mm in cash (20%) and stock (80%) or about 1.58x tangible book. Fifth Third Bank ($142B, OH) will acquire MB Financial Bank ($20B, IL) for about $4.7B in cash (10%) and stock (90%) or about 2.76x tangible book. Bank of Ruston ($290mm, LA) will acquire First National Bank of Crossett ($157mm, AR) for about $12.8mm. German American Bank ($3.1B, IN) will acquire First Security Bank ($587mm, KY) for about $101mm in cash (30%) and stock (70%) or about 1.62x tangible book.

Independent Bank ($8.8B, TX) will acquire Guaranty Bank and Trust ($3.7B, CO) for about $1.0B in stock (100%) or about 3.19x tangible book. In Washington Timberland Bank ($1.0B) will acquire South Sound Bank ($187mm) for about 1.54x tangible book. In California Poppy Bank ($1.6B) will acquire Blue Gate Bank ($130mm). In South Carolina Citizens Bank ($443mm) will acquire Heritage Community Bank ($111mm) for about $11.3mm in cash (40%) and stock (60%). In Massachusetts Rockland Trust Co ($8.1B) will acquire The Milford National Bank and Trust Co ($365mm) for about $54.2mm in cash (25%) and stock (75%) or about 2.03x tangible book.

But all isn’t unicorns and walks on the beach. First Midwest Bank ($14B, IL) will close 19 locations and reduce its total workforce by 7% to improve efficiencies and respond to evolving client preferences.

Capital Markets

“What exactly is a digital mortgage? John Ardy, CEO of Resitrader, says a loan isn’t truly digital unless it includes secondary market delivery. At an MBA Secondary Conference panel last month, Ardy explained an end-to-end digital mortgage must include the investor’s decision-making process and loan trade—which means trading must take place digitally, too. “If the process stops when the keys are handed to the buyer,” he says, “you’re not taking full advantage of going digital.” Makes sense to me!

Rates moved little yesterday, with the 10-year closing up 2bps to 2.96% ahead of tonight’s Trump-Kim summit and the three major central banks interest rate decisions later in the week. The other big international news Monday was Canada’s dollar falling in the wake of the G-7 meeting, which ended with deepening tensions over U.S. tariffs and a dispute between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. In Italy, the country’s new finance minister confirmed his commitment to the common currency. The pound fell as data showed a downturn in U.K. manufacturing in what could be a key week for Theresa May’s Brexit strategy.

Everyone worries about inflation, but it is not a big issue. The May CPI report was +.2%, core +.2% (versus expectations of +0.3%). Real weekly earnings are seen unchanged after falling 0.1% MoM previously. The Redbook Same-Store Sales Index for the week ending June 9 will be released, and we have three Treasury events: a $35 billion 1-month T-bill auction, a $14 billion auction of reopened 30-year bonds, and finally the release of the May budget statement where the CBO’s early estimate sees the deficit increasing to $144.0bn vs. $88.4bn in the prior fiscal year. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to vote on the nominations of Rich Clarida and Michelle Bowman to the Board of Governors of the Fed. Rates are little changed from Monday’s close, with the 10-year yielding 2.97% and agency MBS prices worse a few ticks.

Lender Products

Amazon Mortgage? Are you equipped to compete with a tech giant that has a loyal clientele and that is known for low prices and efficiency? Lenders today need to get tech savvy fast. “Tech companies understand data, trends and consumer preferences and will focus on consumer desires to grab major market share quickly. Talk’uments can help you compete in the consumer-focused mortgage loan environment. Talk’uments is a multimedia, multilingual (English & Spanish) interactive loan technology that appeals to consumer needs, enhances lender sales, opens new business opportunities (LEP, Millennials, Minorities), and cuts costs through efficiency and advanced compliance protocols. To combine interactive loan technology with a human approach, contact George Baker (301.651.6198) for more information.”

More than ever before, lenders want to integrate a variety of product and services to their LOS that allows them to deliver a better experience for their borrowers and employees. APIs have become a necessity in the new digital lending environment and LendingQB is known for having a robust API framework to enable lenders to achieve their unique workflow solutions. Today, LendingQB announced that they have gone one step further and have built PlayRunner, a developer tool designed to simplify the process of developing API integrations. PlayRunner provides an interactive dashboard for developers to quickly identify and test their API integrations in real-time. For more information about LendingQB, go to www.LendingQB.com to schedule a demo today.

Deephaven Mortgage is excited to announce that through strong 1st Qtr growth they have just closed Deephaven Residential Mortgage Trust, (DRMT) 2018-2, their second $300MM securitization of Non-QM loans in 2018. This growth is being driven by Deephaven’s continued emphasis on responsible Non-QM loans made through a growing network of the top mortgage companies in the industry. The goal at Deephaven is to continue to simplify our product line to make originating Non-QM loans easier, while rolling out helpful point-of-sale origination tools to help loan officers more easily pre-qualify their clients. Since March of this year, Deephaven has simplified three of our four core programs, Near Prime, Non-Prime, and our Investment Property products to make originating loans easier and more streamlined. To find out more about how Non-QM can help you grow your business, please contact Wholesale or Correspondent.

Do you have an RFP out for best-in-breed digital mortgage solutions for your business? Be sure that you are evaluating all the top providers in the space. Maxwell, recently recognized by Progress in Lending as the Industry Innovator, is continuing to make a huge impact in the mortgage industry. From independent lenders and community banks to credit unions and even TPOs, I’ve seen their product deliver tangible reductions in cycle time and dramatically improve the borrower and referral agent experience. They’re scaling incredibly fast, now facilitating over $1B in origination volume every month. See how partnering with their team can help you achieve your digital mortgage needs.

PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, a subsidiary of Hilltop Holdings (NYSE: HTH), is a team of talented individuals committed to all our customers. Warehouse facilities available from $5 million to $50 million to fit customers of all different sizes. Low to No Doc Express Funding that reduces time and increases efficiency of the funding submission process. Accepting renovation programs and products; FNMA HomeStyle, FHA 203K Full, Limited and USDA Rural Housing. Providing ways to reduce warehouse lending costs with Tiered Utilization and Deposit Incentive Rates, we reward customers for utilizing their line and taking advantages of the Treasury Management services we offer. Extended dwell times for all State Housing Bond, FNMA Home Ready, FHLMC Home Possible and USDA programs and products at the same rate and advance as all other loans funded. To learn more about PlainsCapital Bank National Warehouse Lending, please contact Pamela Robinson, SVP National Sales.