CertusBank has agreed to buy Myers Park Mortgage, a private mortgage company in Charlotte, N.C.
The Greenville, S.C., bank said Friday that buying Myers Park will increase its foothold around Charlotte and boost its mortgage portfolio.
"Now is a great time to be augmenting our mortgage origination business and this acquisition positions us to provide a wider and more substantive range of mortgage services to customers," Walter Davis, CertusBank's co-chief executive, said in a press release.
CertusBank joins an increasing group of community banks that have recently bought mortgage operations to boost revenues. On Thursday, Sterling Bancorp (STL) in New York
CertusBank has acquired three failed banks since its formation in 2010 as a shelf charter backed by a blind pool of investors, though it hasn't bought any banks since May 2011. In January, CertusBank lost out on a deal to buy First Guaranty in Jacksonville, Fla., when the seller's bank failed and was sold by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to another Florida bank.
CertusBank has 30 branches spanning in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. It had $1.8 billion in assets at June 30, down 3% from March 31. Myers Park Mortgage is the most recent non-bank acquisition the company has announced since acquiring Sage Southeastern securities, an Atlanta brokerage-dealer, late last year.
