After adding more than 100 mortgage loan originators during the past 90 days on a national basis, Fifth Third Bank has turned its attention to Tennessee.
The Cincinnati-based institution announced yesterday that it is expanding its Tennessee mortgage business.
Fifth Third spokeswoman Connie White confirmed in a phone interview that the company plans to add around 20 loan originators in the state. The hirings are expected to be completed by summer.
“Tennessee is an investment market for Fifth Third Bank,” White said. “That’s one of the reasons you’re seeing the exorbitant growth for us.”
She noted that the bank entered the market with its 2004 acquisition of another bank. That bank apparently was Franklin, Tenn.-based Franklin National Bank, which was acquired in June 2004. At the time, Fifth Third Bancorp President and Chief Executive Officer George A. Schaefer Jr. noted that the Nashville region had experienced a 30 percent increase in population over the prior decade.
White indicated in today’s interview that the state’s economy has risen much more quickly than the national economy.
Geoff Hill was tapped to oversee the expansion as head of a new Tennessee mortgage division.
Hill previously service as national direct channel manager for Fifth Third Mortgage — where he “executed the entire bank’s strategy for all Internet, direct marketing and telephone related mortgage production for the past five years.” Under his management, the unit reportedly saw production climb from $0.2 billion in 2006 to $1.8 billion during 2009.
Fifth Third told MortgageDaily.com in a statement that it has hired 133 mortgage loan originators company-wide during the past three months.
