Irwin Restructuring to Cut HE Credit Risk

Irwin Financial Corp., Columbus, Ind., has announced an agreement to sell its residual interests in approximately $1 billion of home equity loans to Roosevelt Management Co., New York, noting that home equity lending has been "a principal driver" of recent losses. Irwin chairman and chief executive Will Miller also announced a pact with Roosevelt, which specializes in investing in and servicing seasoned residential mortgage loans and securities, to deliver "substantially all of the remaining loans in our home equity business into a securitization structure that will cap our remaining exposure at less than $100 million." The company said the transactions, and several others, were aimed at achieving a strategic restructuring of Irwin Financial and Irwin Union Bank that will enable them to refocus on core banking services to small businesses and branch-based customers. The company can be found online at http://www.irwinfinancial.com.