Hibernia Leads Louisiana in Mortgage Lending for Ninth Straight Year

Business Wire, Nov 15, 2004

NEW ORLEANS -- Hibernia National Bank (NYSE:HIB) remains Louisiana's residential mortgage leader for the ninth consecutive year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Hibernia closed more than $2.5 billion in residential mortgages statewide in 2003, giving it a 12.1% market share in dollar volume, according to the MBA's recently released analysis of 2003 data. This represents 27,580 mortgages, including refinancings and new-home loans, for a 19% increase in number of loans from the previous year.

"We continue to lead because we have convenient loan-production offices in all major markets in Louisiana, accomplished and professional people and competitive rates," said Paul Peters, president of Hibernia Mortgage Banking. "Hibernia is committed to mortgage banking. It's a team approach that delivers outstanding service and innovative products to our customers, and that's what keeps them coming back to Hibernia when they want to refinance or purchase another home."

Hibernia's loan originators work with customers that include builders, real-estate brokers and individual homebuyers across its markets to create products that meet their needs. Meanwhile, consumers can find a wealth of mortgage-related information and resources online anytime at Hibernia.com, including daily interest rates, calculators to determine mortgage costs and, for customers, secure access to information about current loan balances.

Hibernia was the only lending institution operating in the state to achieve more than 10% market share. In fact, Hibernia's Louisiana market share is greater than that of its two largest mortgage competitors combined: Countrywide Home Loan Inc., with a 7.4% dollar-volume market share, and JP Morgan Chase & Co., with 4.5%, according to the MBA report.

Hibernia is on Forbes magazine's list of the world's 2,000 largest companies and Fortune magazine's list of America's top 1,000 companies according to annual revenue. Hibernia has $21.4 billion in assets and 311 locations in 34 Louisiana parishes and 34 Texas counties. Hibernia Corporation's common stock (HIB) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.