Lender expands to Prairies

One lender is making it easier for brokers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan who have resolved to do more trailer fee-driven deals by expanding into the Prairie Provinces in 2014.

One lender is making it easier for brokers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan who have resolved to do more trailer fee-driven deals by expanding into the Prairie Provinces in 2014.

“We plan to grow our business by deepening our relationships with our existing broker community,” Dan Putnam SVP of business development, residential mortgages for CMLS Financial said in a statement. “Our focus will be on relationship-building efforts to keep our company top of mind.”

The company plans to expand to the Prairie Provinces in the first quarter of 2014, beginning with Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It also plans to establish a presence in Atlantic Canada by the end of the year.

"On the heels of our 2013 launch in Alberta, BC and Ontario, we are looking forward to partnering with the brokerage community in Saskatchewan and Manitoba early in 2014,"  Chris Brossard, CEO of CMLS Financia told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. "We’d like to be in Atlantic Canada near the end of the year.”

CMLS will continue to offer brokers the choice of upfront or trailer fee compensation. 

“We will continue to provide very competitive and flexible compensation options – our upfront and renewal-based programs,” Putnam said. “In both cases, the compensation will be extremely competitive.”

As for underwriting, CMLS Financial will take measures to expand its offering by adding to its underwriting team in two of Canada’s busiest and most populated housing markets.

“We are hiring more underwriters to increase our underwriting capacity in both Vancouver and Toronto,” Brossard said.

Launched in February 2013 with a focus on the prime lending sector, CMLS’s residential mortgage lending is on pace to lend over $1 billion in its first full year of operation.