The warehouse lending veteran Paul Best has joined People's United Bank in Bridgeport, Conn., as a senior vice president in its commercial division.
Best will head the thrift's new warehouse lending effort. He comes to People's from PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which this past fall closed its warehouse unit. Best joined the Pittsburgh bank when it bought National City Bancorp of Cleveland in late 2008. Initially, PNC kept the warehouse division open and operating, but closed it early last year, even though it was profitable. PNC never gave much detail on why it did not like the warehouse business, except to say that it did not fit into the bank's business plan.
Best stayed with PNC until late 2010 as its remaining warehouse lines expired. In early December, National Mortgage News reported that he was leaving PNC and joining People's, but there was no official confirmation of the hiring until Feb. 1.
NatCity, until PNC bought it, ranked among the top five warehouse lenders in the nation. Over the past six months several community and regional banks have moved into the warehouse space, filling the void left by PNC and NatCity.
