Mortgage Servicing

Barclays to Acquire Subprime Lender EquiFirst 

Barclays Bank PLC announced this morning that it has entered into an agreement to purchase EquiFirst Corporation, the non-prime mortgage origination business of Regions Financial Corporation, for approximately $225 million in cash. EquiFirst is the nation’s 12th largest non-prime wholesale mortgage originator, and originates its loans through over 9,000 brokers in 47 states. The company represents Barclays second recent acquisition in mortgage banking. The bank also purchased HomEq’s servicing platform from Wachovia for $469 million back in November 2006.