People's Mortgage - Retail Lending unit of Webster Bank

The Connecticut-based bank is jettisoning its mortgage operations and at least some of its loan holdings, taking a $2.3 million charge for the first quarter. Apparently an early signal of this should have been the sale of some People's Mortgage offices on March 30th (second news item above).

More on various charge-offs from the first story:

Webster also said quarterly pre-tax earnings will be cut by $4.7 million, or 5 cents per share, from payroll tax and retirement plan costs, while restructuring-related severance charges will reduce earnings by $2.2 million.

Net charge-offs will total $5.4 million, triple the year-earlier level, hurt by losses on Florida residential construction loans where Webster sees a "high probability of loss based on borrower delinquency and market deterioration."

The last part is particularly interesting—more evidence that even if the housing bubble was localized (e.g., to Florida, California, DC, Boston, Denver, ...), apparently the financial impact is not.

Hat tip to Twist from Housingdoom.