A Hispanic-owned bank in Texas funded the most minority-owned bank/thrift mortgage dollars in 2015, followed by two Asian American banks.
International Bank of Commerce, Laredo Texas, made $347 million in mortgages in 2015, making it the biggest minority owned bank or thrift in home loan finance, according to 2015 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data.
CTBC Bank Corp., Los Angeles, was second at $296 million in volume, according to HMDA data from LendingPatterns™, a database of ComplianceTech, a fair lending and technology firm based in McLean, Va.
Wilshire Bank, Los Angeles, came in third in this category, right behind CTBC, with $294 million.
International Bank of Commerce was also the top lender on the minority-owned list in 2014. It reported making $282 million in mortgages in 2014.
In all, 13 banks or thrifts owned by minorities made more than $100 million in mortgages apiece in 2015. Seventy-three minority-owned institutions made $4.1 billion in home loans in 2015, the HMDA data show. (That excludes mortgage purchases.)
That’s up nearly 100 percent from 2014, when 64 institutions made $2.2 billion in mortgages, according to the HMDA data.
Taking the group as a cohort, these banks and thrifts funded more mortgage money to minorities than to whites. Whites received 17 percent, while Hispanics were granted 20 percent of dollars and Asians 19 percent. Blacks received just 2.4 percent of lending. Adding in the smaller American Indian, Native Hawaiian and multi-racial categories, these minority-owned lenders made 41.7 percent of fundings to minorities in 2015.
Only a little more than five percent of mortgage money went to low- and moderate-income borrowers in 2015. Minority-owned banks and thrifts concentrated mostly on upper income borrowers, who made up 48 percent of lending, with middle income receiving seven percent.
So it isn’t surprising that lien amounts were fairly high, $346,000 for first liens and $68,000 for subordinate liens. Jumbo mortgages outpaced conforming loans, at 56 to 44 percent.
With so many jumbos, the vast majority of lending for this group (77 percent) was held in portfolio. Of the loans that were sold in the secondary market, non-agencies bought 10 percent, followed by Fannie Mae at seven percent.
A good bit of the business, just less than 20 percent, went to multifamily mortgages. Non-owner occupied units, at 39 percent, got nearly as many mortgage dollars as owner-occupied units, at 45 percent.
Very little (seven percent) went to government mortgages, with the vast majority, 93 percent, coming through the conventional channel.
Two-thirds of the money went toward purchasing homes, while 28 percent was for refinance and six percent for home improvements.
There were no women-owned banks or thrifts in 2015, according to the database. There were four Native American-owned banks, who made $115 million in mortgages in aggregate. Twelve black-owned institutions made a total of $287 million in mortgages in 2015.
(Mark Fogarty is a journalist and analyst who has been covering the mortgage industry for more than 30 years.)
Recent Comments