Swiss bank reports agreement to sell U.S. mortgage unit

UBS Group has found a buyer for the Select Portfolio Servicing unit it inherited when it purchased the troubled Credit Suisse last year, an executive told analysts during an earnings call.

"We agreed to sell Credit Suisse's U.S. mortgage servicing business," Chief Financial Officer Todd Tuckner said Wednesday, noting that the transaction would reduce risk weighted assets at UBS by roughly $1.3 billion and cut annualized costs by $250 million.

UBS did not specify other terms for the transaction or a specific buyer, but Reuters, which reported on the sale earlier, said that CEO Sergio Ermotti revealed on a subsequent media call that a "consortium" is involved in the purchase.

The sale, which Tuckner said is on track to close in the first quarter of next year, could end some of the uncertainty around UBS involvement in U.S. mortgage holdings it acquired from the troubled Credit Suisse.

Credit Suisse bought SPS back in 2005 when it was an influential player in the U.S. private-label residential mortgage-backed securities boom that preceded the Great Recession's housing collapse. 

SPS continues to act as a servicer in today's far smaller private RMBS market. It also has serviced some loans from the larger government-related market, including a recent Freddie Mac reperforming loan sale. It also formed a business partnership with CoreLogic last year involving tax, flood and portfolio monitoring.  

The U.S. mortgage servicer has additionally been known for developing channel agnostic, proprietary technology to manage loans, according to a report Fitch Ratings issued in December. Its platform hosts a range of automation that include telephony, web, SMS and mobile technology.