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| The nation’s largest originator reduced its subprime wholesale workforce.
Countrywide Financial Corp. cut 108 sales positions from its wholesale division’s specialty lending group Monday, spokesman Rick Simon informed MortgageDaily.com in an e-mail statement. The lender eliminated the jobs “in order to align the company’s workforce with the recent changes in the mortgage market,” according to the statement. Subprime business represented about 9 percent of Countrywide’s 2006 loan originations, the statement said. Last year, the Calabasas, Calif.-based home loan giant reported over 2.5 million mortgages originated amounting to $462.5 billion — more than any other lender. Of that, $88.5 billion was subprime and home equity fundings. The layoffs made up nearly 8 percent of Countrywide’s subprime wholesale staff, which now represents 1,300 of the wholesale division’s nearly 3,900 employees. Countrywide’s corporate head count exceeds 55,000, showing growth in the past two months, Simon said. “As with previous post-boom markets, industry consolidation will create long-term growth opportunities for Countrywide due to our scale, size, expertise and business model,” the statement concluded. Last October, Countrywide cited “changing market conditions” for the 2,500 headcount reduction in non-revenue-producing workforce that took place mostly in the fourth quarter as part of a plan for annual cost savings of over $500 million. In August 2005, the company consolidated its subprime unit by closing an underwriting operation in California that impacted 65 employees, who were offered relocation or other jobs within the company. |
