Long Beach Mortgage Securizations Get WaMu Shelf Registration

Washington Mutual said today that it will securitize subprime mortgage loans originated by its Long Beach Mortgage division using a different shelf registration in 2007.

Beginning with its first transaction in 2007, WaMu will securitize all loans originated through its Long Beach Mortgage division using the WaMu Asset Acceptance Corp. shelf registration, which is also used for WaMu’s prime, Alt A conduit and subprime conduit securitizations.

The new trusts will be designated “WaMu Asset-Backed Certificates, WaMu Series 200X-HEX Trust.� The name “Long Beach Mortgage Loan Trust� will no longer be used with respect to new securitizations.

In spite of industry speculation that Long Beach Mortgage had run into problems with its warehouse credit facility, Washington Mutual said the move was made to consolidate LBM’s operations.

WaMu said it believes the new name reflects the many positive changes made to its broker-sourced business model throughout 2006, according to Doug Potolsky, Washington Mutual’s Senior Vice President of Subprime Capital Markets. “We’ve made many changes in LBMC’s business model and operations beginning when we consolidated its operations into WaMu and this is a logical next step. For these reasons, we feel it is appropriate to brand our Long Beach Mortgage securitized product offerings as Washington Mutual product offerings.â€?

The first transaction using the new name is expected to close in January.