First Horizon Faces Securitization Inquiries

Regulators and a Home Loan bank have asked First Horizon National Corp. for information about some of its securitizations, executives said Friday.

BJ Losch, the Memphis, Tenn., company's chief financial officer, said that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has requested information on 17 securitizations and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco had asked for loan information on three securitizations.

The FDIC was seeking the information on behalf of 45 failed banks that had purchased some of the securitizations, Losch said.

However, First Horizon did not have much information about the requests at this time, he said.

First Horizon is currently involved in four lawsuits, including one that the Federal Housing Finance Agency filed in September against 17 financial institutions. The FHFA alleged that the companies had made misrepresentations when they sold private-label mortgage-backed securities to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The parent of First Tennessee Bank reported fourth-quarter profits on Friday of $34.9 million, compared with a loss of $48.7 million a year earlier. It also reported returning to the black for the year with profits of $131.2 million after suffering a loss of $57.8 million in 2010.

Declining revenue was offset by a dip in credit costs. Revenue declined 7% from a year earlier to $360.1 million. The company's fourth-quarter provision for loan losses plunged 78%, to $10 million, year over year. Nonperforming assets declined to $521.2 million, a 38% drop, while net chargeoffs fell 25% to $75.3 million.

During the call, executives also touted plans to lower expenses. Chairman and Chief Executive Bryan Jordan said that the $24.8 billion-asset company had made headway in its three-year efficiency plan and that the bank was on track to reduce expenses to roughly $1 billion by the end of 2013.

The company's efficiency ratio was 89% for 2011, but the company has plans to lower it to between 60% and 65%.

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