Residential loan originations were down 13 percent last year at Fremont Bank. But that didn’t stop the firm from nearly tripling its earnings.
The Fremont, Calif.-based bank Thursday reported $3.9 billion in 2011 home-loan production.
The bank is not connected to the formerly troubled Fremont Investment & Loan, which stopped originating subprime mortgages in 2007 and was sold to CapitalSource Inc. the following year.
Fremont Bank’s mortgage fundings fell from $4.5 billion previously reported for 2010.
Still, Fremont’s volume wasn’t down as much as the 18 percent decline for all residential U.S. lenders as a whole during the same period.
The financial institution said last year’s net income of $39 million was 186 percent higher than in 2010.
“The bank’s profitability was bolstered by $3.9 billion in residential loan originations, growth in its mortgage servicing portfolio, lower loan charge-offs and improved operating margin,” the statement said.
The report indicated that non-performing loans fell 38 percent from 2010, while the real-estate-owned portfolio was down by a third.
