CLEVELAND, April 3, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyBank
National Association today announced that it has successfully
completed the acquisition of Laurel Road Bank's digital lending
business. The acquisition underpins KeyBank's strategic growth
efforts, by enhancing its digital capabilities through customized,
end-to-end lending products.
Laurel Road, based in New York
City, has built a compelling student loan refinancing
platform, which launched in 2013 and has rapidly grown to total
more than $4 billion in loan
originations to date. The digital platform offers a simple and
personalized process with attractive refinancing options, providing
customers with potentially meaningful savings over the life of
their loans. In 2018, the company introduced an online mortgage
platform using the same simple and secure lending technology to
offer home buyers and owners a streamlined digital application
process.
In acquiring Laurel Road, KeyBank continues its strategy of
building targeted scale against defined client segments such as
healthcare professionals, lawyers, and graduate students.
Specific to Laurel Road, KeyBank will focus in three areas to drive
growth:
- Expand national, digital-only lending
capabilities: Capitalize on Laurel Road's sustained
success in delivering its capabilities through strategic
partnerships and direct-to-market branding to enhance KeyBank's
digital-lending offerings to customers.
- Boost KeyBank's client experience through compelling
digital tools: Maximize the industry-leading
technology behind Laurel Road's platform to drive growth and
improve efficiencies.
- Deliver a holistic banking experience to a targeted
segment of consumers: Leverage Laurel Road's expertise
within the millennial professional market to build on its success
and expand product offerings to acquire, broaden, and deepen
relationships.
"Part of KeyBank's strategy is to pair the best of the best in
fintech with our industry expertise and scale. Now that the deal is
officially closed, we're thrilled to begin work with Laurel Road,"
said Jamie Warder, Head of Digital
for KeyBank. "The three pillars we've outlined aim to expand our
business and offer more customer segments a comprehensive,
digitally-led suite of services, and Laurel Road is a pivotal piece
of this growth plan."
"We're deeply proud of what we've built at Laurel Road and share
in Jamie's excitement to get to work integrating and growing our
combined products and business," said Gary
Lieberman, Founder and Chairman of Laurel Road Bank. "Laurel
Road set out to deliver a simple yet superior lending experience
for millennials at every financial milestone. As part of KeyBank,
our capabilities and scale have even more potential, and together
we're committed to enhancing the digital financial experience for
all customers."
KeyBank seeks to accelerate growth by leveraging Laurel Road's
national reach, existing infrastructure and technology
capabilities. The Laurel Road brand will remain in place. Laurel
Road's three bank branches located in southeast Connecticut are not part of this
transaction.
Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.
KeyBank was advised by KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc., and Debevoise
& Plimpton. Laurel Road Bank was advised by RBC Capital Markets
and Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP.
About KeyCorp
KeyCorp's (NYSE: KEY) roots trace back
190 years to Albany, New York.
Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio,
Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services
companies, with assets of approximately $139.6 billion at
December 31, 2018. Key provides deposit, lending, cash
management, and investment services to individuals and businesses
in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a
network of over 1,100 branches and more than 1,500 ATMs. Key also
provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment
banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and
private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle
market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital
Markets trade name. For more information, visit
https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender.
About Laurel Road
Laurel Road began originating
student loans in 2013 and has since helped thousands of
professionals with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees
consolidate and refinance more than $4
billion in federal and private school loans. Laurel Road
also offers a suite of online graduate school loan products,
mortgages and personal loans that helps simplify lending through
customized technology and personalized service. In April 2019, Laurel Road was acquired by KeyBank,
one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services
companies. For more information, visit www.laurelroad.com. Laurel
Road is a brand of KeyBank National Association offering online
lending products in all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The mortgage product is not
offered in Puerto Rico. KeyBank is
a Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender. NMLS ID # 399797.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains
forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements can be identified by words such as "outlook," "goal,"
"objective," "plan," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "project,"
"believe," "estimate" and other words of similar meaning.
Forward-looking statements represent management's current
expectations and forecasts regarding future events. If underlying
assumptions prove to be inaccurate or unknown risks or
uncertainties arise, actual results could vary materially from
these projections or expectations. Factors that could cause Key's
actual results to differ from those described in the
forward-looking statements can be found in KeyCorp's Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2018, as
well as in KeyCorp's subsequent SEC filings, all of which have been
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are available
on Key's website (www.key.com/ir) and on the Securities and
Exchange Commission's website (www.sec.gov). Forward looking
statements speak only as of the date they are made and Key does not
undertake any obligation to update the forward-looking statements
to reflect new information or future events.
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SOURCE KeyCorp