Mortgage originations were down almost a fifth on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis at Citizens Financial Group Inc. Also retreating was the servicing portfolio. Earnings, meanwhile, improved from a year previous.
First-quarter earnings data from the Providence, Rhode Island-based bank-holding company indicated $501 million in income before income tax expense during the first-three months of this year.
Earnings improved from $434 million
earned in the same three months during 2017. But earnings were mostly unchanged compared to the $503 million earned in the final-three months of last year.
Mortgage banking fees crept up to $25 million at Citizens from $23 million in the first-quarter 2017
but slipped from $28 million in the fourth-quarter 2017.
Just $1.367 billion in residential loans were closed during the first quarter of this year, the report said. Business tumbled from $1.687 billion in the preceding three-month period and $1.664 billion in the same three months last year.
The conforming mortgage origination mix was 45 percent.
At the close of the first-quarter 2018, Citizens serviced $20.2 billion for third parties. The servicing portfolio was off from $20.3 billion three months earlier. But mortgage servicing at the financial institution has grown from $17.5 billion one year earlier.
Residential assets were trimmed to $32.106 billion from $32.611 billion as of year-end 2017. Modest growth was noted, though, versus $31.830 billion as of March 31, 2017. Most recently, the total consisted of $17.346 billion in mortgages, $1.434 billion in home-equity loans and $13.326 billion in home-equity lines of credit.
Commercial real estate assets grew to $11.775 billion from $11.308 billion at the end of last year and $10.915 billion at the same point last year.
Citizens concluded the latest period with 17,546 full-time equivalent employees. Staffing was reduced from 17,594 people at the end of last year and 17,515 positions as of March 31, 2017.
