Second tier vows to remain resilient in wholesale channel

A second tier has vowed to continue picking up the slack left by lenders exiting the wholesale channel

A second tier has vowed to continue picking up the slack left by lenders exiting the wholesale channel.

After many large lenders like Wells Fargo, CitiMortgage, Chase and others pulled out of wholesale lending following the 2007 crash,  many second-tier lenders stepped in to fill the void, and Stearns CEO Brian Hale has said the company will remain strong in the wholesale channel despite a tight regulatory environment and rising interest rates.
 
Hale said that the company that operates retail, correspondent, and wholesale lending channels will “continue to provide liquidity to the broker community” through the still challenging origination environment.
 
Wholesale originations made up the majority of Stearn’s originations every quarter over the past year, contributing US$ 2.758b (or 73%) of its total US$ 3.78bn in mortgage originations in Q42012, according to National Mortgage News. In Q12012, wholesale originations made up US$ 1.735b (or 82%) of its total US$ 2.1b in originations.
 
Overall, the broker channel is coming back very strong, said Hale, making up 15% of all originations in 2012 compared to a low of 6.8% of all originations in Q12011.