Huntington expands corporate financing for mortgage companies

Huntington National Bank has started a corporate mortgage finance business that it calls an opportunity to offer customers a more comprehensive solution than standalone warehouse credit.

Ken Logan, an industry veteran of over 35 years, has joined Huntington as senior managing director. He previously spent 12 years overseeing warehouse lending at Wells Fargo and most recently served in a similar role at Signature Bank.

Besides providing warehouse lending, the unit will provide financing on servicing rights to independent mortgage bankers, financial institutions and real estate investment trusts in addition to other owners of mortgage assets that want to monetize their investment, Logan said,

"It's a suite of services that they want and need," he said in an interview.

Huntington already had five "mortgage-centric" activities in the bank, Logan said. For example, in May, the bank added a team headed by Kathy Kanno Wood (who had been a colleague of Logan's at Wells Fargo) for specialized cash and treasury management needs of mortgage servicers and other real estate companies.

Huntington also provides capital markets, fund finance and other products and services to mortgage business participants. In addition, the bank participates in the correspondent lending channel.

The one business line the bank didn't have was mortgage asset financing, "so this is rounding out a little bit or adding another element" to the bank's business, Logan said.

Part of the opportunity for Huntington is to step in where other banks have balance sheet and/or capital constraints as rules evolve, especially with the discussions around Basel III and its impact on mortgage activities.

"We have built a broad set of best-in-class capabilities to serve mortgage originators and servicers backed by highly experienced leaders who uniquely understand clients' needs," said Tizu Menelik, Huntington's executive managing director of corporate, specialty and government banking, in a press release.

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Originations Servicing Capital markets Warehouse lenders
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