As the number of residential loan originators grew last year, a bigger share of the group found themselves working at non-bank lenders for the second year in a row.
When 2017 concluded, there were 574,326 mortgage loan originators who were licensed or registered through the
Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System.
Headcount for the nation’s loan officers expanded compared to the end of 2016, when the number of loan officers in the database was 562,837.
In fact, the count has increased each year since
2014, when the number finished the year at 524,734, according to historical data from the Conference of State Bank Supervisors which presented the latest figures in the NMLS Mortgage Industry Report 2017 Q4 Update.
Included in the most-recent count were 158,199 state-licensed originators who maintained 562,760 licenses and 421,743 federally registered originators who worked at banks. There were 5,616 originators who maintained both a state license and a federal registration.
That left state-licensed originators with a 27 percent share, up from 26 percent a year earlier. It was the second consecutive year that state-licensed originators increased their share.
Bank originator share fell to 73 percent from 74 percent in the fourth-quarter 2016.
Originators employed by banks regulated by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency made up 219,085 of the latest registered total. Another 90,215 worked at institutions supervised by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., 49,444 were on the payroll of banks regulated by the Federal Reserve Board, and 1,937 hung their hats at financial institutions that are overseen by the Farm Credit Administration. In addition, 64,009 were employed by credit unions regulated by the National Credit Union Administration.
Companies in the NMLS system numbered 26,366 in the fourth-quarter 2017, more than 26,089 a year prior.
Company count included 16,966 state-licensed entities with 24,710 branches, more than the 16,355 with 22,937 branches at the end of 2016.
Also reflected in the company total were 9,491 financial institutions, fewer than the 9,831 banks and credit unions a year previous.
