Countrywide Credit Expected to Announce British Venture

In one of the first moves outside the U.S. by a mortgage lender, Calabasas-based Countrywide Credit Industries Inc. is expected to announce today a joint venture with Woolwich, a large, London-based mortgage company, to offer mortgage services in Britain and ultimately throughout Europe.

Countrywide, which has become the largest independent residential mortgage lender in the U.S., would help Woolwich underwrite, securitize, track and service the loans in exchange for a large share of the profit, according to sources close to the company. Countrywide officials declined to comment.

Mortgage analysts say they expect many of the larger U.S. mortgage companies to enter the European market spurred by the conversion to a common currency.

“With the euro dollar and one economy, you bring stability,” says George Tribble, Oakland-based mortgage broker and president of the California Mortgage Brokers Assn. Indeed, Tribble says, since U.S. mortgage brokers have become so large and sophisticated in servicing and underwriting loans, their systems are now much more efficient and economical than those used in Europe. And that means overseas firms have an incentive to turn those operations over to U.S. firms, Tribble says.

Woolwich has a mortgage portfolio equal to $40 billion and operations in France and Italy. Countrywide would eventually make deals with lenders in other countries to provide similar services across Europe.

Sources say Countrywide is also looking at new production channels and methods of securitizing European mortgages. The firms were introduced by officials at Salomon Smith Barney.