In a bid to refocus on its mortgage origination, trading and administration activities, Scarborough Building Society Group has sold a mortgage portfolio to Lehman Brothers for GBP180 million.
The mortgages were purchased from Scarborough’s wholly-owned subsidiary North Yorkshire Mortgages and the assets will continue to be serviced by the Scarborough’s third party administrator SMS Mortgage Services.
For the Scarborough Group, a top 20 UK building society, the latest partnership with a major financial services institution is part of wider plan to expand its mortgage origination and servicing.
The sale follows the announcement earlier this year of a trading and administration deal with Basinghall Finance – a subsidiary of German investment bank WestLB – which has seen GBP660 million of mortgages transferred since March 2006. SMS continues to administer the assets on Basinghall’s behalf.
The sales also compliment a three year plan in which the Scarborough has undertaken a major program of investment in its business, processes and systems, with particular emphasis on providing its mortgage administration subsidiary SMS Mortgage Services with the latest, end to end capability.
We have a clear strategy of expanding our mortgage origination, trading and administration activities, by building relationships with major partners. We see SMS Mortgage Services as a key player in this role in the future, said John Carrier, chief executive.
The latest deal further expands our business, and again underpins our ambitious plans to grow the mortgage origination and servicing arms of the Scarborough Group.