The Ottawa Citizen
Page: F6

VANCOUVER - HSBC Financial Corp. Ltd. said yesterday it has signed a deal to buy Invis Inc., the largest independent mortgage broker in Canada, in a move to continue growing its mortgage business.

"We look at the brokerage industry as being a very fast- growing part of mortgage originations," said Patrick Burke, president and chief executive of HSBC Financial.

Financial terms of the deal were not released, however Mr. Burke said the company will be operated as a separate business.

"We have no intentions of either changing the name Invis, or probably more importantly, determining for an individual broker who his ultimate lender should be," Mr. Burke said.

Invis is HSBC Financial's first venture into the mortgage brokerage business and Mr. Burke said the company will work with Invis to grow the business.

"If we thought there were some opportunities to continue to expand the network then we would want to lend our support to that effort," Mr. Burke said.

"If there are value added products that we can bring to the broker channel that they find to be useful, then I think that helps us both in getting more value to the broker and ultimately the customer and helping us as a lender."

Mortgage brokers often boast they can arrange rates lower than a bank will offer customers, even though the money may come from that same bank.

According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., about 26 per cent of Canadians used a mortgage broker last year with the figure rising to 32 per cent among first-time buyers.

Invis president and CEO Andrew Moor stressed the deal with HSBC will not affect the firm's independence when it comes to finding the best deal for clients.

"The guiding mantra of the firm has always been to give people the best mortgage for them whichever lender it comes from, so that's still what will continue to be the lifeblood of the business," Mr. Moor said.

Invis has more than 550 mortgage brokers across the country and negotiated more than $4.5 billion worth of mortgages last year.

Mr. Moor said the company is looking to increase that to more than $5.5 billion this year and,with the backing of HSBC, will be able to broaden its offerings beyond regular mortgages.

"If we could get a wider range of home equity lines of credit for example, which is one of the directions the market is going in, that would be a good value-added proposition," he said.

HSBC Financial, a subsidiary of HSBC Finance Corp., has a network of over 100 branches that offer consumer financial services - such as loans, mortgages and credit cards - through subsidiaries HSBC Finance Corp. Canada, HSBC Retail Services Ltd., Household Realty Corp. Ltd.and Household Trust Company.

HSBC is one of the world's biggest financial companies with operations in 77 countries and assets of about $1.3 trillion U.S.

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