Empire Bancorp - Wholesale

Privately held Empire Bancorp Mortgage Bankers has closed effective today.

In a letter distributed this morning from Les Hills, (owner):

"At this time I must inform everyone that it has become necessary to close Empire Bancorp immediately.

The reason for this is the heavy losses taken as the result of non-performing loans, current loan production, the fact that we could not obtain all necessary approvals for Direct Mortgage, low pull thru ratio, questionable continued ability to fund loans and the rising cost of operating the business.

At this time Countrywide Warehouse Lending has made the decision to not release any money until all loans are off the line and they are sure no monies are due for loans in default.

This is a difficult thing for me to tell everyone but there are certain things that I cannot control. I believe that had we been able to survive today's market that we could have regained formal production levels in the future."

To read the entire letter, click here (.pdf).

We will add to this page as information becomes available. Please email us if you are aware of number of employees affected, and/or peak volume levels.