Optimal Blue buys Resitrader to build out digital mortgage platform

Optimal Blue is expanding its reach in the secondary mortgage market by acquiring Resitrader, a whole-loan trading vehicle that has integrations with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"Two years ago, Optimal Blue set out to build a digital mortgage marketplace. This acquisition is another key step in that journey," Scott Happ, CEO of Optimal Blue, said in a press release.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Resitrader's staff, including CEO John Ardy and CIO Seever Sulaiman, will remain with the company after the acquisition.

"With Optimal Blue's backing, I expect Resitrader to continue its rapid growth bringing depth and breadth to the market," Ardy said in the press release.

Resitrader will be integrated with Optimal Blue's hedging automation and help grow Optimal Blue's capabilities in the bulk bid market.

Optimal Blue is owned by private equity firm GTCR, which acquired the company and recapitalized it in 2016. Optimal Blue also owns Comergence Compliance Monitoring, a company it acquired last year that helps investors vet and monitor third-party originators.

GTCR has been focused on acquisitions of experienced financial technology providers in the mortgage, banking and insurance industries; and horizontal market opportunities in compliance.

Optimal Blue's digital mortgage platform supports $750 billion transactions annually, including almost $600 billion in rate locks processed by its product and pricing engine, and more than $150 billion in transactions supported by its hedging automation.

Resitrader introduced its platform in 2015 with a focus on jumbo loans and it has grown rapidly, quadrupling its volume in the past year.