WaMu Realigns Prime, Subprime Lending

Washington Mutual Inc., Seattle, has announced plans to realign its single-family residential mortgage lending operations under one management team.Under the new structure, management responsibility for Long Beach Mortgage Co., WaMu's subprime lending business, and Mortgage Banker Finance, its warehouse lending operation, will move from the commercial group to David Schneider, president of WaMu's home loans group. The rest of the commercial group, including the multifamily lending business, will report to industry veteran Al Brooks, WaMu said. "Bringing our leading prime and subprime lending businesses under common leadership provides us the opportunity to fully leverage our resources to better serve our customers and shareholders," said Steve Rotella, WaMu's president and chief operating officer. "At the same time, we have a strong and experienced leadership team that recognizes the unique characteristics of the subprime business." In a related development, WaMu commercial group president Craig Chapman will leave the company as of Jan. 31.