Company-wide and mortgage earnings improved at Citizens Financial Group Inc. Residential servicing and assets expanded, while originations had a quarter-over-quarter gain.
Prior to income tax expense, the Providence, Rhode Island-based bank-holding company earned $462 million in the three months ended June 30, its second-quarter results indicate.
Income exceeded the $361 million earned in the same-three months last year and also improved from $434 million in the first-quarter of this year.
Citizens reported mortgage-banking fees of
$30 million. Residential lending results improved from the $23 million earned three months earlier and $25 million in fees one year earlier.
Mortgage originations
during the period that started on April 1, 2017, and finished mid-year totaled $1.951 billion. Business was better than $1.664 billion in the first quarter but shy of the $1.964 billion closed in the year-earlier period. First-half 2017 production amounted to $3.615 billion.
Third-quarter originations are positioned to maintain the second-quarter’s pace based on the origination pipeline, which inched up to $1.76 billion in the second quarter from $1.74 billion the three months prior.
Citizens serviced $17.6 billion in mortgages for third parties as the close of the most-recent quarter, The servicing portfolio continued its quarterly growing trend, rising from $17.5 billion at the end of the first quarter and $17.2 billion on the same date in 2016.
Residential assets added up to $32.213 billion as of June 30, 2017. Citizens expanded its single-family investments from $31.830 billion at the close of the preceding
quarter and $31.583 billion at the finish of the first-half 2016. Most recently, mortgages made up $16.082 billion of the total, while home-equity loans came to $2.253 billion, and home-equity lines of credit accounted for $13.878 billion.
June 2017 concluded with $11.213 billion in commercial real estate loans outstanding. CRE assets grew from the end of March when they totaled $10.915 billion. Commercial mortgages stood at just $9.825 billion as of June 30, 2016.
The report highlighted “talent” in its mortgage banking unit.
“Mortgage business continues to demonstrate strength, with improved secondary mix year-over-year and strong customer satisfaction scores that reflect the impact of investments in our platform and talent,” the report stated.
At the conclusion of the first-half 2017, there were 17,738 people on Citizens’ payroll. Staffing was bolstered
by 223 positions from March 31. The increase reflected strategic and seasonal hiring which was partially offset by efficiency reductions.
Headcount slipped, though, from 17,828 at the midpoint of last year.