Burgeoning alternative lender, Equity Financial Trust, announced Thursday that CEO Nick Kypriano has been replaced by Michael Jones, who will assume the role of president of Equity Financial Trust, effective October 7.
Burgeoning alternative lender, Equity Financial Trust, announced Thursday that CEO Nick Kypriano has been replaced by Michael Jones, who will assume the role of president of Equity Financial Trust, effective October 7.
“It was a unanimous board decision to make a change in the leadership function and that’s what I did,” Paul Smith, President and CEO of Equity Financial told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “Nick is a great operator and what we’re trying to convey to the community is that there is another great operator joining our team.”
The news may surprise some, as Equity Financial reported strong number for the first two quarters of 2013.
“Equity Financial Trust, which sold transfer agent business earlier this year to focus on mortgage and deposit business, reported $72,662,000 in mortgage originations for the second quarter of 2013, an increase of 79 per cent from the year-ago period,” MortgageBrokerNews.ca reported in late August.
However, Smith assured brokers that the company will continue to focus on the mortgage industry.
“We are looking to continue to serve the alternative mortgage lending industry as well and better than we have,” he said. “We have a great, well capitalized, financial institution with an outstanding management team and workforce. We’re pursuing the strategy that I’ve laid out and we intend to get there.”
However, early indication is that shareholders’ optimism has been affected.
The Equity Financial Holdings stock, which opened Thursday at $12.50 dropped 17.46 per cent to $10.40 per share at press time.
Still, Jone -- say industry observers -- has the kind of industry knowledge needed to further grow Equity’s book.
“Michael brings more than 30 years of experience in the retail mortgage industry, most recently as President and CEO of XCEED Mortgage Corporation, where he oversaw the rapid growth of the business prior to its sale,” Smith said. “As an experienced and proven operator in the alternative mortgage industry, Michael will continue the growth and development of our retail mortgage lending business."
