There’s one fewer player in the indirect auto lending sector. Compass Bank shuttered its indirect auto business Jan. 30 amid a restructuring at parent company BBVA Group, AutoFinanceNews.net has learned.
The bank’s auto portfolio totals nearly $4 billion. Its auto unit has 50 to 75 employees and does business with 1,800 dealers.
Loans in the pipeline as of Jan. 28 will be funded, and the bank will continue to service its existing portfolio.
Birmingham, Ala.-based Compass will still offer direct auto loans to car buyers via its branch network: 577 branches spread throughout Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Texas.
The closure comes on the heels of BBVA’s announcement last week to lay off 10% of its workforce — 1,200 employees— as it works to integrate a handful of acquisitions, including Texas State Bank and Laredo National Bank.
Spanish bank BBVA has $750 billion of assets and does business in more than 30 countries.