Tarrant Business

OmniAmerican Bank earnings flat, loans up

Fort Worth-based OmniAmerican Bank said it earned nearly $1.2 million in the fourth quarter, largely unchanged from a year earlier, but earnings per share slipped a penny to 11 cents from 12 cents a year earlier. Outstanding loans rose 7.6 percent for the year to $735 million. The former credit union said improving credit quality was evident in two positive moves: its net charge-offs of bad loans fell by $1.8 million, down 82 percent from a year earlier, and it made no addition to its loan-loss reserve, which a year ago was a $1.7 million expense.

For the year, OmniAmerican earned $5.7 million, up 44 percent from 2011. It finished the year with $1.26 billion in total assets, down 6 percent from 2011. The decline was mainly from a $146 million decrease in securities held for sale. Non-performing assets were down $3.5 million as of Dec. 31, to $13 million. CEO Tim Carter said "2012 was a great year for OmniAmerican." He said the institution built experienced staff and expanded its online and mobile banking options.

-- Jim Fuquay

Impact of Chase job cuts in North Texas uncertain

JPMorgan Chase & Co., which employs about 15,000 people in North Texas, plans to cut thousands of jobs company wide by 2014, the nation's biggest bank said. A Texas spokesman for Chase said it's too early to say just how North Texas will be hit by the layoffs, but noted that "we will remain a major employer in North Texas." Chase said Tuesday it will cut as many as 19,000 jobs, including about 4,000 this year, mostly by attrition, and the remainder in 2014. It said 13,000 to 15,000 of the positions eliminated will be mortgage-related, and 3,000 to 4,000 will be in community banking.

Chase is the second-largest bank by deposits in the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan market, behind Bank of America, and the largest in Tarrant County as of June 30, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chase spokesman Greg Hassell said Chase has 242 branches in North Texas, but could not provide a breakdown of its mortgage-related employment in the region. Chase in August 2011 said it would add 700 mortgage servicing positions at its Lewisville facility to handle the flood of troubled home loans. At the time, Hassell told the Star-Telegram Chase also had added 500 jobs at a Coppell facility to handle loan modifications, and 125 at a mortgage documents center in the CentrePort development just south of Dallas/Fort Worth Airport. In June 2011 Chase opened an Arlington Homeownership Center with six counselors, and in November 2010 it held a job fair to fill about 140 mortgage banking positions planned for the CentrePort facility. At the time it was reported that 1,500 people worked at that facility in consumer and business banking.

"Fewer homeowners are falling behind on their mortgages, so we need fewer employees to assist those who were struggling," Hassell said. He said the bank will help affected employees find openings at Chase or other local employers.

-- Jim Fuquay 

EECU, Fort Worth Telco credit unions to merge

EECU, one of North Texas' largest local credit unions, will merge with the 5,000-member Fort Worth Telco Credit Union effective May 31, the companies said Tuesday. EECU, formerly Educational Employees Credit Union, has about 167,000 members. It continues a trend of smaller institutions merging with larger credit unions, including 2010's merger of the former Star-Telegram credit union into EECU. Fort Worth Telco had $39 million in assets as of Dec. 31, while EECU had nearly $1.5 billion.

“EECU has a long-standing relationship with Fort Worth Telco Credit Union and its leadership,”  Lonnie Nicholson, CEO of EECU, said in a prepared release. “The decision to merge seemed like a natural extension of the relationship between the two credit unions.”

 “We feel this merger will be extremely beneficial to our members as they will have access to resources not currently available to them,” said Ron Reed, Fort Worth Telco Credit Union president. “Having been our neighbor in Fort Worth for 33 years, we’re confident in EECU’s commitment to upholding the high standards of service our members are used to.”

Fort Worth Telco Credit Union member accounts, including deposits and loans, will be transferred to EECU. The credit union was chartered in 1935 for area Bell Telephone employees, according to its website. It has about the same assets but only half the members it had in 2000, according to Star-Telegram records.

-- Jim Fuquay

 

OmniAmerican's Carter named to Dallas Federal Home Loan Bank board

Tim Carter, president and CEO of OmniAmerican Bank, was recently elected the board of directors of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas for a term that runs through 2016. FHLB is a cooperatively owned wholesale bank that provides low-cost funds to member institutions in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas.

Carter since 2007 has been CEO of OmniAmerican, a credit union until its conversion to a bank in 2005. Prior to that he was chairman of Chase Bank's Fort Worth region from 1998 to 2001, when he left the organization to head United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County. He is on the boards of Texas Wesleyan University, The Fort Worth Club, the Fort Worth Promotion and Development Fund, the Arlington Chamber of Commerce, and the Safe City Commission. He also serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Community Depository Institutions Advisory Council and the TCU Business School International Board.

-- Jim Fuquay

Wells Fargo giving $200,000 to Tarrant housing agency

Tarrant County Housing Partnership on Thursday will receive a grant for $200,000 from Wells Fargo Housing Foundation to support the agency’s work providing affordable housing. The grant is part of Wells Fargo’s national effort to increase affordable housing while stabilizing and rebuilding distressed neighborhoods. It's the foundation's second grant to the agency and one of 59 Priority Market grants nationally totaling $6 million. Wells Fargo executives, leaders of the Tarrant County Housing Partnership, Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price and Tarrant County Development Director Patricia Ward will participate in the ceremony and formal check presentation Thursday at 2 p.m. at the Hazel Harvey Peace Center for Neighborhoods, 818 Missouri Ave. in Fort Worth.

“Our Dallas-Fort Worth team members are really pleased that we can continue to support the Tarrant County Housing Partnership and the great work it does for affordable housing and neighborhood stabilization in Tarrant County,” said John Gavin, Wells Fargo’s regional president for community banking. Gavin and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Regional Sales Manager Michelle Eldridge will represent Wells Fargo at the ceremony. “It’s hard to express in words our appreciation for the continued support of Wells Fargo,” said Donna VanNess, president of Tarrant County Housing Partnership. “Their generosity has been an important factor in our success.”

-- Jim Fuquay

 

Wells Fargo to open Irving mortgage center, hire hundreds

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the nation's biggest home lender, said today it will open a new mortgage operations center in Irving . Together with additional hiring for an existing facility in Bedford, the lender expects to make more than 450 new hires. The new operations center is set to open next month at 250 E. John Carpenter Fwy. Wells Fargo will hold a job fair Jan. 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, 300 Reunion Blvd. in downtown Dallas. "All jobs will require candidates to have mortgage loan underwriting experience, and to apply online at www.wellsfargo.com/careers/ to be considered for a role," the company said.

Wells Fargo already has a mortgage fulfillment operations center in Bedford  that employs 116. It said applicants for the Irving site can also be considered for similar roles in Bedford.

-- Jim Fuquay

Tom Cravens named Tarrant banker of the year

Longtime North Texas banker Tom Cravens (left), a director at Fort Worth-based Southwest Bank, is the Tarrant County Bankers Association's 2012 Banker of the Year. He was honored Dec. 6 at a luncheon at Shady Oaks Country Club. Cravens was chairman and CEO of First National Bank of Arlington, where he started a banking career 48 years ago. He was co-owner of Coble Cravens Inc., a financial services and insurance agency, executive vice president of Security Bank, president of SouthTrust Bank in Arlington, CEO of Northwest National Bank until its purchase by Texas Bank in 2005, director of Texas Bank, later acquired by Compass Bank, and a director at Southwest Bank since 2009.

Southwest Bank CEO Vernon Bryant said the award "is an outstanding achievement and speaks to the impact that Tom's experience and expertise has had on the North Texas banking industry." Cravens was recently named chairman of the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, the not-for-profit organization funded by mineral rights bonuses and royalties on city-owned property. He also serves on the boards of Texas Health Resources and the AT&T Cotton Bowl.

-- Jim Fuquay

Trinity Bank reports record earnings

Fort Worth-based Trinity Bank, which in October said it would pay a special $1 per share cash dividend, said it earned 651,000, or 57 cents a share, in the third quarter, up 12 percent from a year ago. The gain came despite $495,000 in charge-offs on three bad loans, which President Jeff Harp said were the first for the nine-year-old institution. He said the bank's loan loss reserve, which stood at $1.37 million at the start of the quarter, covered the losses without hurting income. Trinity Bank finished the quarter with $179 million in total assets, including $85 million in loans, and $157 million in deposits.

-- Jim Fuquay

OmniAmerican earnings rise

Fort Worth-based OmniAmerican Bank said Friday that it earned $2.3 million in the third quarter, or 22 cents a share, more than double the $1 million profit a year earlier. The bank said the improvement was driven by higher investment gains and lower losses on bad loans. OmniAmerican also expanded its outstanding loans by $83.1million, or 12.4 percent, from a year earlier. The bank finished the quarter with $1.28 billion in assets as of Sept. 30. "OmniAmerican's performance during the third quarter of 2012 is our strongest in recent history. These results clearly demonstrate that our financial strategy is working," CEO Tim Carter said in a prepared release. He said "the seasoned lending staff we added earlier this year has substantially strengthened the bank's lending relationships and increased our loan production."

-- Jim Fuquay

Cash America earnings down on cost of restructuring Mexico operations

Cash America, a pawn shop and payday lender, on Thursday reported a big drop in earnings but still beat Wall Street's expectations for the third quarter. The company said the profit decline was largely because of one-time expenses related to trimming operations in Mexico. Revenue jumped about 10 percent from a year ago, and the company expects future growth will be fueled by a need for loans. Cash America International Inc. makes money from loans to consumers, from service fees and from selling jewelry, electronics and other goods in its pawn shops.

Net income dropped by two-thirds, falling to $11.7 million from $34.8 million a year ago. On a per-share basis, earnings were 37 cents per share, down from $1.08. The company spent $18.5 million to reorganize its operations in Mexico, where it is closing its jewelry-only pawn shops. It also spent $1.9 million on a failed bid to spin off its online lending business, Enova International. In July it blamed the shelved plans for Enova on volatility in the market for taking companies public.

Without the one-time charges, net income would have been $31.2 million, down about 8 percent. Per-share earnings would have been $1.02, beating the 96 cents expected by analysts, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose 10 percent to $439.7 million, boosted by fees from the online segment both in the U.S. and in foreign markets. Analysts expected $365 million. The company expects fourth quarter earnings of $1.15 to $1.25 per share, compared with $1.18 per share in the same quarter a year ago. In the U.S., Cash America operates under the names "Cash America Pawn," ''SuperPawn," ''Cash America Payday Advance," ''Cashland" and "Mr. Payroll." The company said that regulations of consumer loan products could affect future revenue, but it gave no specifics.

-- The Associated Press