Citizens Financial Group has signed an agreement to purchase the assets of Franklin American Mortgage Company, a Tennessee-based national mortgage servicing and origination firm with a leading position among private and non-bank mortgage companies.
As of March 31, 2018, Franklin American Mortgage managed a $41.4 billion mortgage servicing portfolio and generated approximately $13.7 billion in annualized originations for the first quarter 2018, nearly 100 percent of which was conforming.*
The addition of Franklin American Mortgage triples the size of Citizens’ off-balance sheet mortgage servicing portfolio, providing significantly more balance sheet leverage.
The transaction also more than doubles Citizens’ origination platform while significantly diversifying its origination capabilities with the addition of correspondent and wholesale channels, which complement Citizens’ strong retail capabilities.
Franklin American Mortgage has made significant investments in platform innovation and its unique, proprietary technology delivers a strong competitive advantage by providing an excellent customer experience while reducing risk.
On a Combined basis, it is anticipated that upon closing Citizens will:*
Become a top-15 bank-owned, residential mortgage servicing and origination platform.
Gain significant scale in mortgage servicing by expanding its existing off-balance sheet portfolio from $20.2 billion to approximately $61.6 billion, with a total portfolio of approximately $78.9 billion, including Citizen’s existing on-balance sheet mortgage portfolio.
Add approximately 200,000 servicing households, more than 600 correspondent relationships and more than 1,000 wholesale-broker relationships.
Expand its origination presence, providing additional geographic and demographic diversity to the business mix.
Improve the mix of conforming originations from approximately 45% to approximately 85% with approximately 70% of combined originations represented by purchase volume.
“This transaction takes our mortgage business to the next level, expanding our reach and adding immediate scale in servicing as well as innovative correspondent and wholesale solutions,” said Brad Conner,
