It's Official: BNC, Finance America to Merge

Lehman Brothers has decided to merge its two subprime wholesale divisions -- BNC Mortgage and Finance America, both of Irvine, Calif. -- leaving BNC as the surviving brand.A source close to the situation confirmed to MortgageWire that the merger is well under way and that BNC instituted a 3% reduction in force on Tuesday. (MW broke the news Tuesday about the merger.) The combination of the two lenders creates the nation's ninth-largest subprime lender, according to figures compiled by the Quarterly Data Report. Back in May, Lehman Brothers fired several top executives at Finance America. It then named Kelly Monahan, president of BNC Mortgage, to manage both FA and BNC. Mr. Monahan will remain in charge of the newly merged company. (For full details, see the Sept. 26 issue of National Mortgage News.)