Big bank reports solid mortgage growth

As the big banks continue to release their quarterly economic performance, originator eyes will be fixed on mortgage business – and one leading bank’s results were more solid than expected.

Bank of America pulled ahead of its competitors in the mortgage space, according to its Q2 results.

Revenue for that business almost doubled to $1 billion year-over-year, according to statics released by the behemoth bank. Impressive results, especially when compared to Well Fargo – whose mortgage business fell one percent to $1.71 billion -- and JPMorgan Chase – whose own portfolio shrunk 21 percent to $1.8 billion.

According to Bank of Americ Chief Financial Officer Bruce Thompson, mortgage business has been one of the bank’s focus this year.

“There’s some momentum behind this, and we continue to push hard to deliver the type of growth we saw this quarter,” Thompson said.

Residential mortgage and home equity loan originations were up 40 percent year-over-year to $19.2 billion.

Overall, the Bank of America’s stock shot up 2.6 percent following the release of its financial results to $17.58 just after 9:30 a.m. eastern standard time Wednesday morning. Net income for the bank was $5.3 billion.

“It was a giant step forward this quarter for the company,” Thompson said on a conference call with reporters. “It really enables us to focus across the platform on looking to drive growth with our customers, and at the same, being very mindful of the need in this environment to manage expenses tightly.”