BOK Financial plans to exit the correspondent lending channel, the company said Friday.
The Tulsa, Okla.-based company said that the change will be effective by Dec. 31, and it notified employees of its plans last week. BOK Financial said in a news release that the choice to exit the channel was a reaction to the margin pressure it faced as a result of the "increasingly competitive landscape and extended low interest rate environment."
"We constantly evaluate our business strategies to ensure our investments are resulting in the most competitively profitable opportunities," Pat Piper, executive vice president of consumer banking services for BOK Financial, said in the release. "This decision is in line with our corporate culture to focus on long-term stability rather than short-term financial gains."
The company entered the correspondent lending channel in 2011 and has amassed some 180 bank and credit union customers since then.
Following the change, the company plans to invest more resources in HomeDirect Mortgage, the online consumer direct mortgage subsidiary that it formed in 2013, and its retail origination business.
Altogether, 35 employees will be affected by the exit, representing about 5% of the company's mortgage workforce. BOK Financial said it will give priority consideration to these individuals for openings in the company's mortgage division and in other divisions if they are qualified.
