Aurora Bank (original) (raw)

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Federal savings bank headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, US

Aurora Bank

Aurora Bank logo
Industry BankingFinancial services
Founded Wilmington, Delaware (1921)
Defunct 2013 (bank)2020 (holding company)
Fate Liquidation
Headquarters Brandywine Building, 1000 West Street, Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Products Consumer BankingMortgage LoansCommercial ServicesBusiness Services
Number of employees 1,900 (2010)
Parent Lehman Brothers

Aurora Bank was a federal savings bank (FSB) headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, established in 1921 under the name Delaware Savings And Loan Association.[1][2] It reorganized as an FSB in 1988[3] and became a subsidiary of Lehman Brothers in 1999, renamed as Lehman Brothers Bank. The bank spearheaded Lehman's mortgage loan business while continuing to offer retail deposit accounts.[4]

After the 2008 failure of its parent company the bank continued to operate, but its capital position deteriorated rapidly due to depositor withdrawals. The Office of Thrift Supervision imposed special restrictions on its business and the Lehman bankruptcy estate invested hundreds of millions of dollars to prevent its failure.[4][5] It changed its name to Aurora Bank and, in 2012, exited the banking business by selling most assets and insured deposits to New York Community Bank and most loan servicing interests to Nationstar Mortgage and Selene Finance. The following year it relinquished its banking charter and relocated to Littleton, Colorado.

The company remained a party in litigation relating to its loan origination practices under Lehman Brothers, and in 2018 it paid a $41 million civil penalty to the federal government to settle claims that it had misrepresented the quality of its loans.[6] It entered liquidation in September 2020.

  1. ^ Aurora Bank, FSB Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Retrieved November 25, 2010
  2. ^ Banking Archived July 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine OnGreen. Retrieved November 23, 2010
  3. ^ Office of the State Bank Commissioner Annual Report for 2009 Archived November 3, 2010, at the Wayback Machine State of Delaware, December 31, 2009. Retrieved November 24, 2010
  4. ^ a b Bansal, Paritosh (March 16, 2009). "Lehman puts two bank units on market: source". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-01-28.
  5. ^ Hals, Tom (September 15, 2009). "One year later, Lehman bank is still in business". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  6. ^ "Former Colorado Mortgage Originator, A Subsidiary Of Lehman Brothers, Agrees To Pay $41 Million Related To Its Conduct In Originating And Selling Mortgage Loans". The United States Attorney's Office, District of Colorado. August 2, 2018. Retrieved 2021-01-28.