Another Mortgage Executive Leaves Fleet, To Join Former Colleague at

HomeSide Inc. has snared another executive away from Fleet Mortgage Group.

Philip G. Laren, a vice president at Columbia, S.C.-based Fleet, will join HomeSide April 28. Mr. Laren will report directly to Kevin D. Race, HomeSide's chief financial officer. Mr. Race left Fleet Mortgage last September.

Mr. Race and Mr. Laren worked together at Fleet Mortgage. In a phone interview, Mr. Race said HomeSide was excited to be gaining the services of Mr. Laren.

Mr. Laren worked for Fleet for about five years. His last position there was as a director of portfolio management. Before his stint at Fleet, Mr. Laren worked for Source One Mortgage Services, Farmington Hills, Mich.

Mr. Race said Mr. Laren does not yet have a specific title, but would focus on asset and liability management programs. He said Mr. Laren's task specifically will be to implement strategies to manage risk associated with the company's balance sheet assets.

"One of the biggest issues in mortgage banking is being able to manage your interest-rate risk," Mr. Race said.

Typically, companies with large servicing portfolios buy financial instruments such as derivatives to hedge their servicing assets. Servicing values decline when interest rates fall, and the derivatives are designed to rise in value when interest rates decline.

HomeSide, Jacksonville, Fla., was the seventh-largest servicer of mortgages last year with a portfolio of $84.7 billion. The company, formed by combining the mortgage servicing portfolios of Bank of Boston Corp. and Barnett Banks Inc., went public in January. The two banks are majority owners, along with the venture capital firms Thomas H. Lee & Co. and Madison Dearborn Partners.

Mr. Laren did not return phone calls made to his office at Fleet Mortgage. Mr. Race said Mr. Laren is taking time off before starting with HomeSide.

Mr. Laren joins a lengthy list of executives who have left the Fleet Financial Group mortgage unit in the last two years. In addition to Mr. Race, two chief executives and two production chiefs left the company last year.

Earlier this year, Michael J. Torke, a longtime Fleet Mortgage veteran, was named president of the unit. H. Jay Sarles was named chairman of Fleet Mortgage, succeeding fellow Fleet Financial vice chairman Michael R. Zucchini, who was reassigned.

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