Mortgage firm adds Hawai'i branches

By Deborah Adamson
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Mainland mortgage lender is opening four branches in Hawai'i, with the first one starting up operations next week in downtown Honolulu.

First Horizon Home Loans, a unit of Memphis-based First Horizon National Corp., will be moving into Hawai'i for the first time as part of its national expansion strategy. The lender currently operates in 40 states.

The lender has hired 20 of the 81 workers to be laid off by Washington Mutual, which decided in July to end mortgage lending operations on three islands by the end of September. Aside from the downtown location, First Horizon did not say where it plans to open branches.

Once it has experience in the market, the parent company plans to open bank branches.

"We go into markets where we have a large mortgage presence and a large number of customers who know the brand," said spokesman Terry Lee.

Banking operations would come "much later," he said.

First Horizon National is a regional bank holding company with plans to expand nationwide. While its mortgage lending arm has a broad national presence, the bank primarily has operated in Tennessee, Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., Lee said.

In April, First Horizon changed its name from First Tennessee National Corp. to reflect its national strategy.

As of June 30, First Horizon had total average assets of $27.3 billion and 12,000 workers.

Reach Deborah Adamson at dadamson@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8088.