The revolving door at Fleet Mortgage Group has taken another turn.
Richard A. Mirro, chairman and chief executive officer for just the past four months, is jumping to Dime Bancorp as president and chief operating officer of its mortgage banking arm. He is expected to make the move at yearend.
Mr. Mirro, who joined Fleet from Chase Manhattan Mortgage, is the sixth high-level executive to leave Fleet Financial Group's Columbia, S.C., mortgage unit this year. A Fleet spokesman had no comment on who a possible successor might be.
In October, Mr. Mirro outlined his growth plans for Fleet in an interview with American Banker and downplayed the significance of the rash of executive departures at Fleet.
In leaving Fleet, Mr. Mirro is swapping the top job at the nation's fourth-largest originator and servicer of loans to become the No. 2 executive at a relatively small regional mortgage lending operation.
At midyear, Dime ranked as the 44th-largest servicer and 31st-biggest servicer. But Dime clearly is looking to become a more significant player in the mortgage arena.
In fact, Dime is organizing something of a Chase Manhattan Mortgage reunion as it maps growth plans. Last Friday, Dime announced that former Chase Manhattan Mortgage chief executive Fred B. Koons and two other Chase veterans have joined its mortgage company.
Coinciding with Mr. Koons' move to Dime, the company agreed to move its mortgage headquarters from Uniondale, N.Y., to Tampa, Fla. Sources said Mr. Koons was intent on staying in Tampa, where Chase Mortgage was headquartered, and Mr. Mirro lives there now.
