Yesterday the broker channel lost two prime lenders in one day: Concentra Financial and Macquarie Financial. Both announced they were terminating broker originations.
In Concentra’s case, EVP Don Hansen said the move was prompted by a “decision to use an alternate source for originating mortgages.” He referred to that source as “wholesale operations.” (We weren’t able to get more details on that in time for this story.)
Hansen added: “We express our sincere gratitude to the broker market for providing Concentra with access to residential mortgages for over twenty years.”
That’s well and good and we’re certainly sorry to see them go. The Concentra staff we deal with were always friendly and professional.
On the other hand, if we’re being honest here, Concentra won’t be missed by most brokers.
It was a tiny player and only a small percentage of brokers did business with it. In fact, Concentra ranked 21st in market share according to the last Davis+Henderson report we saw, with a miniscule 0.3% of the broker market. That share had been more than cut in half in the year leading up to this announcement.
Concentra had some good niches but it never became a core lender. For one thing, its pricing was uncompetitive most of the time (e.g., today it’s at prime rate on an adjustable-rate mortgage).
Update—June 28, 2011: Concentra CEO, Ken Kosolofski, says Concentra is trying to have a “less public-facing profile.” He says Concentra will use a non-broker “3rd-party supplier” to generate mortgage originations going forward. He added that details on that supplier cannot be disclosed at this time.
Customer note: Concentra says “Our mortgage clients will experience no disruption in service. Concentra will continue to process and fund any deals in progress.”
Rob McLister, CMT
Too Bad. I wonder how many employees will be effected. Concentra was always ranked as one of the better employers in Canada.