Prudential Bank's home equity lending chief has abruptly left the company.
No replacement has been named for William J. Rodgers, a senior vice president at the Atlanta-based subsidiary of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, who left the company a few weeks ago.
Two executives are temporarily filling Mr. Rodgers' post. A bank executive, Thomas Sandusky, declined to comment until the situation is resolved further.
Mr. Rodgers could not be reached for comment.
Prudential Bank has about $400 million of home equity loans and lines outstanding, according to SMR Research Corp., Budd Lake, N.J. That puts it in the top 100.
The majority of Prudential's home equity loans came by "piggybacking" Prudential Home Mortgage's first-mortgage originations.
Piggybacking means that Prudential would write a second mortgage along with a first mortgage and close them both at the same time.
But the future of Prudential Bank's home equity lending remains cloudy, now that Prudential Home Mortgage has been put on the block.
In February, Mr. Rodgers told the American Banker that Prudential Bank would continue to look for ways to further mine its parent's mortgage company for home equity loans. But he said at the time that Prudential Bank would not venture far from the mortgage company.
"Our best bet is to focus internally," he said. "That process can take us to the end of the millennium."
