Maumee, Ohio-based Resolute Bank has ceased originating Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) loans, RMD has learned. A company representative confirmed by phone that Resolute stopped offering reverse mortgages within the last month.

Resolute Bank President Kevin Rahe told RMD that the exit had very little to do with reverse mortgage-specific issues such as changes made to the HECM program. Instead, it’s rather due to the larger goal for the bank to refocus its business enterprises on the regional footprint in its own backyard.

“We’re a small community bank in northwest Ohio,” Rahe told RMD. “Our reverse mortgage division was centered in Henderson, Nev., and we’re really just trying to get back to our core business in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. Focusing on our footprint a lot more [is a top priority].”

As a result of the exit, Resolute’s online reverse mortgage resources, including its former dedicated reverse mortgage division website are no longer active.

According to data sourced from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Reverse Market Insight (RMI), the company recorded 0 reverse mortgage originations between August and September, 2019, and sits with 90 originations year-to-date as the number 27 ranked lender on RMI’s tabulation of the top 100 lenders in 2019. This figure is unchanged from data recorded in August.

Resolute’s endorsement volume has fallen significantly when compared with data from the same point the prior year. By September 2018, the lender had recorded 261 reverse mortgage originations, a fall of 66% between September 2018 and 2019.

Resolute Bank is a federally-chartered and FDIC-insured savings bank, offering routine banking services like checking and savings accounts along with debit and credit cards. It is also a lender, operating in the traditional mortgage space as well as offering home equity lines of credit, auto loans and personal lines of credit.