During the late 1970s, it became clear that community banks could no longer afford to send their good customers down the street to the savings and loans for home mortgages if they expected to retain the balance of the retail business. With this in mind, a study was commissioned and a consultant was hired to evaluate the potential for a new business unit. Following the findings, the Iowa Bankers Mortgage Corporation was formed — with the Iowa Bankers Association investing $100,000 and obtaining all of the voting stock, and Iowa Bankers Insurance & Services, Inc., buying $150,000 of preferred stock.
A business plan was established and a staff of 14 was retained to operate the mortgage company in anticipation of the volume that had been projected. After a period of unusually high interest rates, volume began to increase and by the mid-1980s volume returned to levels similar to those originally projected when the company started.
Through the years, IBMC has revised and designed our channels of business to fit member banks’ expertise and needs, and we now offer three distinctly different methods for banks to engage with us. In addition, we serve as a centralized servicer for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Des Moines.
Today, IBMC is utilized by more than 250 financial institutions and services more than 60,000 mortgage loans totaling over $8 billion in 11 states. As such, IBMC is considered a significant secondary market aggregator, and we are positioned to provide competitive rates and pricing to our bank members. As the industry continues to change, we stay focused on innovating and implementing advanced technology tools to facilitate the most efficient use of our programs by participating banks.
Our board of directors is completely made up of Iowa bankers and all of our policies and directives are consistently aimed at contributing to the success of member banks.