Flagstar Bancorp announced earlier this week that it completed the previously announced acquisition of Stearns Lending’s delegated correspondent lending business.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Under the terms of the deal, Stearns' employees and subcontractors associated with the delegated business will transition to Flagstar, the companies said when they initially announced the deal earlier this year.
According to details provided back in February by Flagstar, Stearns correspondent business includes approximately 250 correspondent relationships, which produce more than $7 billion of agency and governmental residential mortgage loan production annually.
Of the deal, Stearns Lending CEO Brian Hale said that Flagstar fit all of the criteria Stears looked for when it decided to sell its delegated correspondent lending business.
“When we decided to exit this business for strategic reasons, we had two key objectives: first, we wanted to ensure that our network of correspondent lenders – consisting of community banks, credit unions and builder-owned mortgage companies – was with a lender that would continue to serve them well,” Hale said.
“Equally important, we wanted to make sure that our employees were with a reputable, well-run organization,” Hale said. “Flagstar certainly met both our criteria.”
For Flagstar, the deal builds its market share, according to Alessandro DiNello, Flagstar's president and chief executive officer.
“The acquisition of Stearns' correspondent platform gives us a tremendous opportunity to expand our market share in the delegated space,” DiNello said last month.
“Throughout our analysis of the business, we have been impressed with the Stearns' team's approach to the correspondent channel, their focus on customer service and their commitment to sound risk management. We believe this team will be a strong cultural fit with the Flagstar team,” DiNello added.
“We are excited to add the high-quality team from Stearns. We believe that there is a continued opportunity to grow our market share and expand our relationship with these correspondents,” Dinello concluded. “Being a bank, we can offer these new customers additional products and services, deepening our relationships with them.”
