Santander Mortgage stirs industry debate: purchase of Chasehogar, coming month after First Service acquisition, signals aggressive push into mortgage banking. (Santander Mortgage Corp. previously First Service Corp.; Chasehogar of Chase Manhattan Banks)

Purchase of Chasehogar, coming month after First Service acquisition, signals aggressive push into mortgage banking

As if mortgage bankers who met last weekend at their annual convention didn't have enough to talk about, Banco Santander gave them another hot topic.

The Spanish bank's acquisition last week of Chasehogar, Chase Manhattan Bank's mortgage banking unit in Puerto Rico, has become the talk of the industry, coming as it did on the heels of Santander's acquisition in April of First Service Corp., which has since been renamed Santander Mortgage Corp.

Santander expects to take over Chasehogar in August following regulatory approvals, and will integrate that operation into the Santander Mortgage Corp.

For its part, Chase has now divested all of its retail banking operations on the island and can now fulfill its goal of focusing exclusively on corporate banking.

While Santander officials are giving little indication, at least publicly, of their intentions in the mortgage banking market, everything points to a major thrust to challenge the likes of Doral Mortgage, R&G Mortgage, Puerto Rico Home Mortgage (formerly Metmor Financial), and Banco Popular in every facet of the industry: ...