Hilltop Holdings Inc. (Hilltop) is a diversified, Texas-based financial holding company.
The company's primary line of business is to provide business and consumer banking services from offices located throughout Texas through the bank. The company also provides an array of financial products and services through its broker-dealer and mortgage origination segments. The following includes additional details regarding the financial products and services provided by each of the company's two prima...
Hilltop Holdings Inc. (Hilltop) is a diversified, Texas-based financial holding company.
The company's primary line of business is to provide business and consumer banking services from offices located throughout Texas through the bank. The company also provides an array of financial products and services through its broker-dealer and mortgage origination segments. The following includes additional details regarding the financial products and services provided by each of the company's two primary business units.
PlainsCapital Corporation (PCC): PCC is a financial holding company that provides, through its subsidiaries, traditional banking and wealth, investment, and treasury management services primarily in Texas, and residential mortgage loans throughout the United States.
Securities Holdings: Securities Holdings is a holding company that provides, through its subsidiaries, investment banking and other related financial services, including municipal advisory, sales, trading, and underwriting of taxable and tax-exempt fixed income securities, clearing, securities lending, structured finance, and retail brokerage services throughout the United States.
Business Segments
The company's business units comprise three reportable business segments organized primarily by the core products offered to the segments’ respective customers: banking, broker-dealer, and mortgage origination.
Corporate includes certain activities not allocated to specific business segments. These activities include holding company financing and investing activities, merchant banking investment opportunities, and management and administrative services to support the overall operations of the company. Hilltop’s merchant banking investment activities include the identification of attractive opportunities for capital deployment in companies engaged in non-financial activities through its merchant bank subsidiary, Hilltop Opportunity Partners LLC.
Banking
The banking segment includes the operations of the bank. The primary sources of the company's deposits are residents of and businesses located in Texas.
Business Banking: The company’s business banking customers primarily consist of real estate (including construction and land development), wholesale/retail trade, healthcare, institutions of higher education, agribusiness, and energy companies. The company provides these customers with extensive banking services, such as online banking, business check cards, and other add-on services as determined on a customer-by-customer basis. The company's treasury management services, which are designed to reduce the time, burden, and expense of collecting, transferring, disbursing, and reporting cash, are also available to its business customers. The company offers its business banking customers term loans, commercial real estate loans, lines of credit, equipment loans, letters of credit, agricultural loans, and other lending products.
Commercial and industrial loans are primarily made within Texas and are underwritten on the basis of the borrower’s ability to service the debt from cash flow from an operating business.
The bank offers term financing on commercial real estate that includes retail, office, multi-family, industrial, and warehouse properties. Commercial mortgage lending can involve high principal loan amounts, and the repayment of these loans is dependent, in large part, on a borrower’s ongoing business operations or on income generated from the properties that are leased to third parties.
The bank’s mortgage warehouse lending activities consist of asset-based lending in which the bank provides short-term, revolving lines of credit to independent mortgage bankers (‘IMBs’). IMBs are generally small businesses, with mortgage loan origination and servicing as their sole or primary business. IMBs use the funds from their lines of credit to provide home loans to prospective and existing homeowners. When the IMBs subsequently sell the loans to institutional investors in the secondary market—typically within 30 days of closing the transaction—the proceeds from the sale are used to pay down and therefore replenish their lines of credit.
The bank also offers construction financing for commercial, retail, office, industrial, warehouse, single-family, and multi-family developments. Construction loans involve additional risks because loan funds are advanced upon the security of a project under construction, and the project is of uncertain value prior to its completion. The company generally requires that the subject property of a construction loan for commercial real estate be pre-leased because cash flows from the completed project provide the most reliable source of repayment for the loan. Loans to finance these projects are generally secured by first liens on the underlying real property. The bank conducts periodic completion inspections, either directly or through an agent, prior to approval of periodic draws on these loans.
In addition to the real estate lending activities, a portion of the bank’s real estate portfolio consists of one-to-four family residential mortgage loans typically collateralized by owner-occupied properties. These residential mortgage loans are generally secured by a first lien on the underlying property and have maturities of up to 30 years.
Personal Banking: The bank offers a broad range of personal banking products and services for individuals. Similar to its business banking operations, the bank also provides its personal banking customers with a variety of add-on features, such as check cards, safe deposit boxes, online banking, bill pay, overdraft privilege services, and access to automated teller machine (ATM) facilities throughout the United States. The bank offers a variety of deposit accounts to its personal banking customers, including savings, checking, interest-bearing checking, money market, and certificates of deposit.
The bank’s loans to individuals for personal, family, and household purposes, including lines of credit, home improvement loans, home equity loans, and loans for purchasing and carrying securities.
Private Banking and Investment Management: The bank’s private banking team personally assists high net worth individuals and their families with their banking needs, including depository, credit, asset management, and trust and estate services. The bank offers trust and asset management services in order to assist these customers in managing, and ultimately transferring, their wealth.
The bank provides personal trust, investment management, and employee benefit plan administration services, including estate planning, management and administration, investment portfolio management, and employee benefit account and individual retirement account services.
Broker-Dealer
The ‘Hilltop Broker-Dealers’ include the operations of Hilltop Securities, a broker-dealer subsidiary registered with the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (‘FINRA’) and a member of the NYSE, Momentum Independent Network, an introducing broker-dealer subsidiary that is also registered with the SEC and FINRA, and Hilltop Securities Asset Management, LLC. Hilltop Securities and Momentum Independent Network are both registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (‘CFTC’) as non-guaranteed introducing brokers and as members of the National Futures Association (‘NFA’). Additionally, Hilltop Securities Asset Management, LLC, Hilltop Securities, and Momentum Independent Network are investment advisers registered with the SEC under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, (the ‘Advisers Act’).
The company’s broker-dealer segment has four primary lines of business: public finance services, structured finance, fixed income services, and wealth management, which includes retail, clearing services, and securities lending.
These lines of business and the respective services provided reflect the current manner in which the broker-dealer segment’s operations are managed.
Public Finance Services: The public finance services line of business assists public entities nationwide, including cities, counties, school districts, utility districts, tax increment zones, special districts, state agencies, and other governmental entities, in originating, syndicating, and distributing securities of municipalities and political subdivisions. In addition, the public finance services line of business provides specialized advisory and investment banking services for airports, convention centers, healthcare institutions, institutions of higher education, housing, industrial development agencies, toll road authorities, and public power and utility providers.
Additionally, through its arbitrage rebate, treasury management, and government investment pools management departments, the public finance services line of business provides state and local governments with advice and guidance with respect to arbitrage rebate compliance, portfolio management, and local government investment pool administration.
Structured Finance: The structured finance line of business provides advisory services and product expertise related to derivatives for the U.S. Agency to-be-announced (‘TBA’) and commodities. The business line participates in programs in which it issues forward purchase commitments of mortgage-backed products to certain non-profit housing clients and sells TBA mortgage-backed securities. The structured finance business line also specializes in the sales and trading of mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and commercial mortgage-backed securities. Additionally, this business line provides agricultural insurance through Hilltop Securities Insurance Agency Inc., whereby the company acts as an agent in these transactions and retains no underwriting risk with regard to the sale of insurance products.
Fixed Income Services: The fixed income services line of business specializes in sales, trading, and underwriting of the U.S. government and government agency bonds, corporate bonds, municipal bonds, and structured products to support sales and other client activities. In addition, the fixed income services line of business provides asset and liability management advisory services to community banks.
Wealth Management: The wealth management line of business comprises the company’s retail, clearing services, and securities lending groups.
Retail: The retail group acts as a securities broker for retail customers in the purchase and sale of securities, options, and futures contracts that are traded on various exchanges or in the over-the-counter market through the company’s employee-registered representatives or independent contractor arrangements. The company extends margin credit on a secured basis to its retail customers to facilitate securities transactions. Through Hilltop Securities Insurance Agency Inc., the company holds insurance licenses to facilitate the sale of insurance and annuity products by Hilltop Securities and Momentum Independent Network advisors to retail clients. The company acts as an agent in these transactions and retains no underwriting risk related to these insurance and annuity products. In addition, through its investment management team, the retail group provides a number of advisory programs that offer advisors a wide array of products and services for their advisory businesses and clients. In most cases, the company charges commissions to its clients in accordance with an established commission schedule, subject to certain discounts based upon the client’s level of business, the trade size, and other relevant factors. The Momentum Independent Network advisors may also contract directly with third-party carriers to sell specified insurance products to their customers. The commissions received from these third-party carriers are paid directly to the advisor.
Clearing Services: The clearing services group offers fully disclosed clearing services to FINRA- and SEC-registered member firms for trade execution and clearance, as well as back office services, such as record keeping, trade reporting, accounting, general back-office support, securities and margin lending, reorganization assistance, and custody of securities. As of December 31, 2024, the company provided services to 99 financial organizations, including correspondent firms, correspondent broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, discount and full-service brokerage firms, and institutional firms.
Securities Lending: The securities lending group performs activities that include borrowing and lending securities for other broker-dealers, lending institutions, and internal clearing and retail operations. These activities involve borrowing securities to cover short sales and to complete transactions in which customers have failed to deliver securities by the required settlement date, and lending securities to other broker-dealers for similar purposes.
Mortgage Origination
The company’s mortgage origination segment operates through a wholly owned subsidiary of the bank, PrimeLending, which is a residential mortgage banker licensed to originate and close loans in various states and the District of Columbia. PrimeLending primarily originates its mortgage loans through a retail channel, with additional lending through its ABAs. During 2024, funded loan volume through ABAs was approximately 16% of the mortgage origination segment’s total loan volume. As of December 31, 2024, the company’s mortgage origination segment operated from several locations in various states, originating 31.5%, 7.7%, and 5.3%, respectively, of its mortgage loans (by dollar volume) from its Texas, California, and South Carolina locations. The mortgage lending business is subject to variables that can impact loan origination volume, including seasonal and interest rate fluctuations. Historically, the mortgage origination segment has experienced increased loan origination volume from purchases of homes during the spring and summer months, when more people tend to move and buy or sell homes.
PrimeLending handles loan processing, underwriting, and closings in-house. Mortgage loans originated by PrimeLending are funded through warehouse lines of credit maintained with the bank. PrimeLending sells substantially all mortgage loans it originates to various investors in the secondary market. In addition, the mortgage origination segment originates loans on behalf of the bank. PrimeLending’s determination of whether to retain or release servicing on mortgage loans it sells is impacted by, among other things, changes in mortgage interest rates, refinancing and market activity, and balance sheet positioning at Hilltop.
The company’s mortgage lending underwriting strategy, driven in large measure by secondary market investor standards, seeks primarily to originate conforming loans.
PrimeLending also acts as a primary servicer for loans originated prior to sale and loans sold with servicing retained. PrimeLending offers a variety of loan products catering to the specific needs of borrowers seeking purchase or refinancing options, including 30-year and 15-year fixed rate conventional mortgages, adjustable-rate mortgages, jumbo loans, new construction loans, and Federal Housing Administration (‘FHA’), Veterans Affairs (‘VA’), and United States Department of Agriculture loans. Mortgage loans originated by PrimeLending are secured by a first lien on the underlying property.
Geographic Dispersion of the company’s Businesses
The bank provides traditional banking and wealth, investment, and treasury management services. The bank has a presence in the large metropolitan markets in Texas and conducts substantially all of its banking operations in Texas.
The company’s broker-dealer services are provided through Hilltop Securities and Momentum Independent Network, which conduct business nationwide, with 84% of the broker-dealer segment’s net revenues during 2024 generated through locations in Texas, New York, and California.
PrimeLending provides residential mortgage origination products and services from several locations in various states. During 2024, an aggregate of 68% of PrimeLending’s origination volume was concentrated in multiple states, with 44% concentrated in Texas, California, and South Carolina, collectively. Other than these ten states, none of the states in which PrimeLending operated during 2024 represented more than 3% of PrimeLending’s origination volume.
Securities Portfolio
At December 31, 2024, the company’s investment securities consisted of securities of the U.S. Treasury, the U.S. government and its agencies, obligations of municipalities and other political subdivisions, primarily in the state of Texas, as well as mortgage-backed, corporate debt, and equity securities.
Government Supervision and Regulation
The company is a diversified, Texas-based financial holding company registered under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the ‘Bank Holding Company Act’). Accordingly, it is subject to supervision, regulation, and examination by the Federal Reserve Board.
The company is subject to various requirements and restrictions under the laws of the United States, and to regulation, supervision, and regular examination by the Texas Department of Banking. The company, as a state member bank, is also subject to regulation and examination by the Federal Reserve Board. The company is subject to the supervisory and enforcement authority by the CFPB with respect to federal consumer protection laws, including laws relating to fair lending and the prohibition of unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices in connection with the offer, sale, or provision of consumer financial products and services.
The company is also an insured depository institution, and therefore, subject to regulation by the FDIC, although the Federal Reserve Board is the company’s primary federal regulator.
Transactions between the company and its banking and nonbanking affiliates, including Hilltop, PrimeLending, and PCC, are subject to Sections 23A and 23B of the Federal Reserve Act, as implemented by the Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation W.
Affiliate transactions are also subject to Section 23B of the Federal Reserve Act, which generally requires that certain transactions between the company and its affiliates be on terms substantially the same, or at least as favorable to the company, as those prevailing at the time for comparable transactions with or involving other nonaffiliated persons.
As a member of the Federal Reserve System, the company must also comply with the dividend restrictions with which a national bank would be required to comply.
The bank received a ‘satisfactory’ CRA rating in connection with its most recent CRA performance evaluation. The bank and all of its subsidiaries have established policies and procedures to comply with the privacy provisions of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
The loan operations of the bank are also subject to federal laws and implementing regulations applicable to credit transactions, such as the Truth-In-Lending Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1978, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Service Members Civil Relief Act, the Dodd-Frank Act and rules and regulations of the various federal agencies charged with the responsibility of implementing these federal laws. Interest and other charges collected or contracted for by the bank are subject to state usury laws and federal laws concerning interest rates.
The deposit operations of the bank are subject to the Right to Financial Privacy Act, the Truth in Savings Act and the Electronic Funds Transfer Act and Regulation E issued by the CFPB to implement that act.
The Federal Home Loan Bank (“FHLB”) system, of which the bank is a member, consists of regional FHLBs governed and regulated by the Federal Housing Finance Board.
The bank is subject to the USA PATRIOT Act, the Bank Secrecy Act and rules and regulations of FinCEN and the Office of Foreign Assets Control. These statutes and related rules and regulations impose requirements and limitations on specific financial transactions and account relationships intended to guard against money laundering and terrorism financing. The bank has established a customer identification program pursuant to Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Bank Secrecy Act, including obtaining beneficial ownership information on new legal entity customers and otherwise has implemented policies and procedures intended to comply with the foregoing rules until such time as FinCEN adopts final regulations implementing the CTA, which is part of the AML 2020 Act.
The Hilltop Broker-Dealers are broker-dealers registered with the SEC, FINRA, all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. Hilltop Securities is a member of various securities exchanges and is also registered in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Much of the regulation of broker-dealers, however, has been delegated to self-regulatory organizations, principally FINRA, the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board and national securities exchanges. These self-regulatory organizations adopt rules (which are subject to approval by the SEC) for governing its members and the industry. Broker-dealers are also subject to federal securities laws and SEC rules, as well as the laws and rules of the states in which a broker-dealer conducts business. While the SEC, the states, and the exchanges may conduct regulatory examinations, the Hilltop Broker-Dealers are members of, and are primarily subject to regulation, supervision and regular examination by FINRA.
The businesses that the Hilltop Broker-Dealers may conduct are limited by its agreements with, and its oversight by, FINRA, other regulatory authorities (including self-regulatory organizations) and federal and state law.
The Hilltop Broker-Dealers that hold customers’ funds and securities are subject to the SEC’s customer protection rule (Rule 15c3-3 under the Exchange Act), which generally provides that such broker-dealers maintain physical possession or control of all fully-paid securities and excess margin securities carried for the account of customers and maintain certain reserves of cash or qualified securities.
The Hilltop Broker-Dealers are subject to the Securities Investor Protection Act and belong to SIPC, whose primary function is to provide financial protection for the customers of failing brokerage firms.
The Hilltop Broker-Dealers must also comply with anti-money laundering laws such as the USA PATRIOT Act and other related laws, rules and regulations discussed herein, including FINRA AML requirements, designed to fight international money laundering and to block terrorist access to the U.S. financial system. We are required to have systems and procedures to ensure compliance with such laws and regulations. On August 28, 2024, FinCEN, a division of the Department of Treasury, also issued a new rule imposing anti-money laundering requirements on investment advisers registered with the SEC with respect to their investment advisory businesses. The requirements are similar but not identical to the AML requirements for broker-dealers. The date of compliance is January 1, 2026. Hilltop Securities Asset Management, LLC, Hilltop Securities and Momentum Independent Network will evaluate how the new AML rule affects their respective businesses.
Hilltop Securities and Momentum Independent Network are registered as introducing brokers with the CFTC and NFA.
Hilltop Securities Asset Management, LLC, Hilltop Securities and Momentum Independent Network are registered with, and subject to oversight and inspection by, the SEC as investment advisers under the Advisers Act.
Provisions of the Volcker Rule and the final rules implementing the Volcker Rule also restrict certain activities provided by the Hilltop Broker-Dealers, including proprietary trading and sponsoring or investing in “covered funds.”
PrimeLending and the Bank are subject to the rules and regulations of the CFPB, FHA, VA, FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA with respect to originating, processing, selling and servicing mortgage loans and the issuance and sale of mortgage-backed securities.
PrimeLending and the Bank are also subject to regulation by the Texas Department of Banking with respect to, among other things, the establishment of maximum origination fees on certain types of mortgage loan products. PrimeLending and the Bank are also subject to the provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. Among other things, the Dodd-Frank Act established the CFPB and provides mortgage reform provisions regarding a customer’s ability to repay, restrictions on variable-rate lending, loan officers’ compensation, risk retention, and new disclosure requirements. The Dodd-Frank Act also clarifies that applicable state laws, rules and regulations related to the origination, processing, selling and servicing of mortgage loans continue to apply to PrimeLending.
History
Hilltop Holdings Inc. was founded in 1998. The company was incorporated in 1998.
