Who's who in wholesale 2006: here's our annual story on the top wholesale and correspondent lenders. Last year was a year of many stories in the wholesale lending space

Mortgage Banking, June, 2007 by Tom LaMalfa

CitiMortgage ranked as the fourth-largest wholesaler in 2006 with $87.9 billion of production--its first year in that spot. Correspondents accounted for 61 percent of its wholesale production, making it the next-best-balanced wholesale originator. Continuing its rapid growth, Citi was the fifth-largest servicer and fourth-largest subprime lender last year, per MMSA.

At $61 billion, Chase Home was ranked fifth-largest wholesale producer. The company fell one position from 2005. About 75 percent of its purchased volume comes from the broker channel. Chase ranked as the nation's fourth-largest servicer and 17th-largest subprime lender, per MMSA.

Indymac, at $54.2 billion, was the sixth-largest wholesaler in 2006. About 81 percent of its business came from the broker channel. The company focuses on the alt-A market, where it was ranked the nation's largest alt-A lender and the 12th-largest servicer in 2006, both according to MMSA.

American Brokers Conduit ranked seventh last year with volume of $38.1 billion. Approximately 84 percent of its production came from brokers. According to MMSA, its parent was last year's 31st-largest servicer and 20th-largest alt-A lender.

Aurora Loan Services was the eighth-largest wholesaler, with $37.2 billion of production. Correspondent accounted for 71 percent of wholesale activity, ranking it the 11th-largest correspondent lender. Aurora is the nation's 17th-largest servicer and sixth-largest alt-A lender, per MMSA.

GreenPoint ranked ninth and originated $35.4 billion of third-party business last year. About 93 percent of its wholesale business came from mortgage brokers. The company, which is the nation's 26th-largest servicer, specializes in alt-A originations and ranks seventh largest in that type of production, per MMSA.

SunTrust was ranked 10th-largest wholesale producer at $31.5 billion. Approximately 62 percent of its purchased volume came from table-funding mortgage brokers. SunTrust was the 13th-largest servicer and the 11th-largest alt-A lender, according to MMSA.

Top table funders

Figure 4 ranks 2006's top-10 table funders. Countrywide led the pack at $95.5 billion--about $8 billion below its year-earlier volume and with $29.5 billion more than its closest rival in 2006. The company has held the top spot in six of the past seven years. Ranked second was Washington Mutual, with $66 billion of broker production, down 20 percent from the prior year. Wells Fargo was third-biggest table funder at $50.4 billion. Wells Fargo held that position for a second straight year.

Chase was ranked fourth in 2006 with $45.6 billion, off 9 percent from its year-earlier production level. Indymac ranked fifth at $43.9 billion, a whopping $15.8 billion ahead of the prior year--enough to displace 2005's fifth-ranked table-funding wholesaler.

Ranked sixth in broker originations was CitiMortgage at $33.9 billion. Its production rose an incredible 147 percent over the prior year. GreenPoint was seventh in this category, with $33 billion. Ranked eighth in table-funded business for 2006 was American Brokers Conduit at $32.2 billion, up one position from the previous year.