Banco Popular North America - Wholesale - ITIN & Foreign National, Wholesale

In a memo sent out to brokers on October 23rd, 2008, Houston, TX based Banco Popular North America announced it was ceasing operation of its Wholesale lending division effective October 31st. This came as no surprise on the heels of their mid-August announcement suspending business in all states outside of Texas.

One AE wrote to his clients, "This is sad news because we were one of a few lenders who were willing to service a special Niche." Banco Popular's niche was ITIN & Foreign National lending - loans aimed to serve immigrants and migratory workers.

Reporting on parent company Popular Inc.'s 2008 third quarter results, the Sacramento Bee highlighted Banco Popular's $139 million loss - up from $1.1 million in the same quarter of 2007. Of that, $51.7 million was attributable to Banco Popular while $87.4 million came from wholly owned subsidiary E-Loan, which will "cease operating as a direct first mortgage lender over the next few weeks."

"The Corporation has concluded that an accelerated downturn of the U.S. economy requires a leaner, more efficient U.S. business model. As such, the Corporation is reducing the size of its banking operations in the U.S. mainland to a level suited to present economic conditions."

Caribbean Net News said the combined staffing cuts "will reduce its US workforce by one-third to about 1,200 from 1,800."

Specific details on past volume and peak employment were not readily available. Contact us if you can help fill in the blanks. See our Discussion Forum for additional commentary.