Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. is denying rumors that it has closed its residential mortgage unit — though it has laid off 150 people.
A note from a MortgageDaily.com subscriber today indicated his company was notifying its employees that “Bear Stearns is done.”
But Renu K. Aldrich, head of communications for Bear’s fixed income unit, confirmed that the New York-based company has not closed down any of its residential units.
She did say, however, that 150 employees were laid off in Irvine, Calif., this week at Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp. The Irvine location was originally part of Encore Credit, which Bear acquired earlier this year.
The job cuts included operational employees and account executives, she said.
Bear last month disclosed it expects to record a fourth quarter net loss after taking writedowns of $1.2 billion in assets linked to residential mortgages, mortgage securities and collateralized debt obligations.
The investment banker told MortgageDaily.com in August it had reduced staff by 240 after shutting down operations centers in King of Prussia, Penn., and Glenn Allen, Va. In October, the company announced that a consolidation of Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage and Encore Credit would result in another 310 job cuts. At the time of the October layoffs, the company said year-to-date layoffs amounted to 40 percent of its mortgage origination workforce.
