HarborOne Bank in Brockton, Mass., has acquired a mortgage lender in Maine.
The $2.7 billion-asset bank said in a press release Wednesday that it bought Cumberland County Mortgage in South Portland, Maine. HarborOne did not disclose the price it paid.
Cumberland was already providing revenue for HarborOne through a third-party mortgage originator relationship with Merrimack Mortgage, which HarborOne bought in 2015. Cumberland, which has seven employees, generated $131.6 million in loan volume in 2016.
“This is a natural evolution for the robust mortgage business we have been building in northern New England,” HarborOne President Joseph Casey said in the release.
James Blake, HarborOne's CEO, said in a recent interview that mortgage lending ambitions contributed to the bank's decision to convert from a credit union in 2013.
“We wanted to expand and buy a mortgage company, but you can’t buy a mortgage company and only do business in four counties,” Blake said. Converting to a bank "has benefited us and the community by having a local lender.”
HarborOne added 33 offices in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine when it bought Merrimack.
The bank recently reported that its fourth-quarter profit fell by 45% from a year earlier, to $1.6 million, due in part to a decline in mortgage origination volumes.
