BOK Financial Buys Servicing Rights to $4bn of Mortgages

Tulsa-based BOK Financial Corp. (BOKF) bought servicing rights to a $4.1bn portfolio of 34,400 mortgage loans made by Albuquerque-based Charter Bank. The acquisition boosts BOK’s $7.4bn mortgage servicing portfolio by 46%. The loans are held by mortgage securitization giants Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE) and Ginnie Mae. The assets securing the loans are concentrated in New Mexico, with the remainder located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arizona, Colorado and Idaho. “We have a local presence in Albuquerque, with a local mortgage team to meet future mortgage needs,” said BOK Financial mortgage group president Ben Cowen. “Our mortgage servicing team is very talented and we already service loans for most of these markets represented by this acquisition.” Although the acquisition is complete, the actual transfer of loans will happen in early April. It follows a $3bn year of loans funded in 2009 by BOK Financial’s mortgage group, up sharply from $1.3bn in 2008. Write to Diana Golobay. Disclosure: The author holds no relevant investment positions.