HSBC Finance Corp. plans to close down an Indiana mortgage operation — leaving the office’s 600 employees unsure about their future.
The Prospect Heights, Ill.-based company will close a retail mortgage facility in Carmel by the second quarter of 2008, HSBC spokesman Michael Trevino told MortgageDaily.com today.
The subprime center’s 600 employees will be given the opportunity to apply for other positions at HSBC, Trevino said.
HSBC North America, parent to HSBC Mortgage and a subsidiary of London-based HSBC Holdings plc, told MortgageDaily.com in April it was closing its correspondent acquisition channel. That move resulted in an unspecified number of layoffs for support staff. The company also said at the time it planned to close an Orlando office in June — affecting about 110 jobs.
HSBC Holdings reported late last month credit impairment charges of $760 million for the first half of the year in its North American mortgage services business — though it noted pre-tax profits at the mortgage services business improved due to steps it had taken to reduce loss exposure within the correspondent channel.
HSBC is the biggest U.S. subprime lender with an 8.3 percent market share, according to a recent report from Advantus Capital Management. That report indicated the lender was among the first to publicly acknowledge problems in the sector throughout last year.
