Transnational Finance Wholesale - Wholesale, Retail Alt-A

We began hearing word that Transnational Finance had suspended their wholesale operations yesterday. Sources informed us that their rate sheets were indicating that they were no longer accepting submissions. We were able to confirm this information on the Transnational website, where we found a PDF in place of a rate sheet noting the following:

8/24/2007 - DUE TO CURRENT MARKET CONDITIONS, TRANSNATIONAL FINANCIAL NETWORK TEMPORARILY WILL NOT BE ACCEPTING ANY NEW LOCKS AND NEW LOAN SUBMISSIONS AT THIS TIME.

Transnational's closure has since been confirmed via a press release from the company. The release notes:

Transnational Financial Network, Inc. announced today that it had suspended its wholesale mortgage lending operations due to the turmoil in the mortgage industry. It would continue its retail operations.

"The turmoil in the mortgage industry has made wholesale mortgage operations almost impossible," said Joseph Kristul, Chief Executive Officer. "Buyers of mortgages have ceased to fund broad categories of mortgages, often refusing to honor previous commitments to purchase mortgages that we have funded. In other instances, mortgage buyers will modify the terms on which they have issued previous commitments. The inconsistent responses consume capital, and we often take losses on mortgages we have funded. With our severely diminished capital base, we lack the resources to continue wholesale operations in this environment."

Mr. Kristul continued, "We have reduced our staff to a handful of senior people who will enable us to continue our San Francisco retail operations. We have closed our Campbell retail offices."

Regarding Transnational's size, one informant noted:

Transnational Financial Network (TFN) is a California based wholesale and retail mortgage banker that has funded as much as $100MM a month at its peak, but recently has been struggling to hit $30MM. Their web site is located at www.transnational.com ...