Like a married couple who had grown apart, Lance Melber and Steve Matthews decided they’d be better off going their separate ways. Both executives hope to make fresh starts, but their new circumstances carry risks.
The separation is expected to come by March, when National Bank of Kansas City, whose CEO is Matthews, will close on its sale of eSmartloan.com, an online mortgage and loan originator that Melber started.
Melber served the divorce papers. In January 2004, he told Matthews he had hired an investment banker to find a buyer for eSmartloan. Melber said the bank couldn’t support eSmartloan in the style to which he wanted to become accustomed.
“We were funding $150 million a month of product,” Melber said. “We were hitting capital structures the bank couldn’t hit.”
Matthews, who acknowledged that eSmartloan’s success amid the mortgage refinancing boom had lifted the bank’s performance to the top of its industry, said the unit’s earnings will be hard to replace.
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