1st Nat'l of AZ Closes TPO Channels

1st National Bank of Arizona, Scottsdale -- a top ranked alternative-A funder -- has closed its third-party lending platform, according to sources who used to work at the company.In total, about 540 workers were let go. "The wholesale and correspondent units were closed," said one source. Since earlier this year the bank had been trying to sell the mortgage division but could not close a sale, said one investment banker. According to the Alternative Products Quarterly Data Report, FNBA was the nation's 19th-largest funder of alt-A mortgages. For the past seven years the bank had specialized in alt-A production. Over the past month, the secondary market for alt-A and subprime products has been almost nonexistent, with few Wall Street firms offering bids that would result in profitable whole-loan sales by primary funders. The bank can be found on the Web at http://www.fnbaonline.com.