New York-based insurance provider MetLife will shut down its forward residential mortgage operations and will no longer accept new loan applications for forward mortgages.
According to MetLife, they will continue to originate reverse mortgages, service its current mortgage customers in addition to honouring all contractual commitments for loans in process and expects the majority of loans to close in 90 days.
The company expects to incur $90 to $110m, after tax, over the next year in costs related to exiting the business, with no expected impact on the company’s operating earnings.
MetLife said that GE Capital Financial has agreed to acquire most of MetLife Bank’s depository business along with certificates of deposit and money market accounts on 27 December 2011.
As of September 30 2011, the entire retail banking business represented less than 2% of the company’s operating earnings.
MetLife, through its subsidiaries and affiliates serving 90 million customers in over 50 countries, had branches in the US, Japan, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.