Countrywide's Boss Wants Firm To Be More of a Household Word

SAN DIEGO - In the changing mortgage banking world, Countrywide Funding Corp.'s No. 1 position is in peril. Large companies are forming giants in a spate of mergers and acquisitions. Others are exiting the business outright.

Stanford L. Kurland, president of Countrywide Funding, talked to the American Banker at the annual convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America about the company's strategy and his thoughts on where Countrywide is now and where it's going.

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Q.: Countrywide has changed a great deal over a short period of time. What is your business strategy and what are you focused on?

KURLAND: We haven't deemphasized any part of the business, and want to participate on all fronts. We want to continue to be a provider for brokers and correspondent lenders, but we have emphasized more our consumer markets divisions.

Down the food chain of mortgage products, the consumer division has the highest margins. If we can increase our (retail) market share, it would be a smart move. We have a small retail share now. We want to get ourselves known to the public.

Q.: Are you satisfied with your current retail branch system?

KURLAND: No. We are looking to expand. Physical locations are needed, and we are looking at where we can put branches. We also can add people to existing branches. Now we average a little more than three people in our branches, and during the refi boom we had eight. It would be a mistake to view expansion in today's market by the number of people in branch offices.

Q.: GE Capital Mortgage recently exited wholesale lending. How do you do it?

KURLAND: We are very focused on the product. We have systems that allow mortgage brokers to be more efficient. Our automated underwriting system is accessible at no charge to brokers. We look to enhance our relationships with brokers and make our processing system affordable to smaller brokers.

Q.: Where do you see Countrywide in the future?

KURLAND: It is important for us to achieve our growth, because we already have size and want the economies of scale. We want to continue to grow. Countrywide is not focused on whether other companies can buy their way to the top spot. The top spot belongs to the most efficient company that can offer the best price. Anyone can be in the top position for a quarter or a year. But you have to rely on economics to maintain the top spot. We are focused on being the most productive, efficient, and most profitable. If we focus on those things, we will be the largest mortgage company in the long run.

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