CS Mortgage Consolidation Brings Layoffs

Credit Suisse has moved to consolidate several of its mortgage-related businesses, resulting in an untold number of layoffs, most of which were in New York. A source close to the company said the following four businesses will be combined and report to managing director Michael Marriott: asset-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, residential mortgage-backed securities, and commercial MBS. "We combined their operations and eliminated redundancies," said the source, adding that Credit Suisse is not exiting any mortgage business and will be staying in warehouse lending as well. (There had been unconfirmed rumors that CS might exit the warehouse arena.) Credit Suisse owns Lime Financial, a subprime lender based in Lake Oswego, Ore., and Select Portfolio Services of Salt Lake City, a subservicer. "The business is soft right now," said the source, "but we're positioning ourselves for when the nonagency securitization business comes back."