Alliance to Close Stand-Alone Mortgage Unit

Alliance Bankshares Corp., Chantilly, Va., has announced that its mortgage banking unit, Alliance Home Funding, will cease operations as a stand-alone subsidiary.Thomas A. Young Jr., president and chief executive officer of Alliance Bankshares, said the mortgage banking unit's business results over the past several years have "fallen short" of the parent company's objectives. "As we enter 2007, with a continued modest outlook in the housing sector, we felt a radical change was necessary," Mr. Young said. The new plan calls for about 10 employees to join the bank as part of a mortgage banking division that will offer mortgages to customers, prospects, and homebuilder clients, he said. "The focused approach of this division should lead to better performance metrics," Mr. Young said. The company estimated that it will take a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $540,000 to $675,000 to wind down the operations of Alliance Home Funding. The parent company can be found on the Web at http://www.alliancebankva.com.