The last two years have been a crazy time for Urban Financial Group. After Knight Capital Group’s acquisition of Urban in 2010, the company has been on a tear, growing from about 50 employees to more than 100 in a short period of time. Now, about a year and a half after the deal closed, [...]

Urban Financial Group announced today the appointment of a new managing director, former Generation Mortgage CFO Steven McClellan. McClellan will serve as Urban’s president and CEO. “Steve has a strong track record of financial and operational expertise,” said Robert Lyons, senior managing director of Knight Capital (NYSE: KCG ), Urban’s parent company. “With his management experience in [...]

Reverse mortgage TV ads have long been the driving force behind building awareness for the loans as well as educating the general public about the ins and outs of the products. Those advertisements often hinge on the voice of a celebrity spokesperson, as in the case of Robert Wagner (Urban Financial) or Fred Thompson (American [...]

As reverse mortgage lenders adapt to change in the retail and wholesale climates, many are seeing—and are quickly adapting to—a rise in lending from smaller players including third-party originators. They are ramping up efforts to train and assist those who are new to the business or who run smaller origination shops, and several lenders who [...]

Urban Financial Group has finalized a deal this week to acquire Guardian First Funding Group for an undisclosed sum. Backed by Knight Capital Group (NYSE: KCG ), the acquisition brings Guardian’s call center-driven retail model and rights to its Robert Wagner marketing campaign to the Urban Financial brand and operations. Urban announced the deal in October, [...]

The performance of Urban Financial Group had a nice impact on Knight Captial Group’s profitability during the first quarter according to company executives of the Wall Street firm that acquired Urban last year. Tom Joyce, CEO of Knight Capital and Steve Bisgay, Knight senior managing director and CFO outlined the company gains, which amounted to $30.5 [...]