Update: Regions Financial to Exit Wholesale

Updating an earlier post here regarding Regions Financial and National Mortgage News that generated some significant interest (the post has seen roughly 300,000 hits since it first went live), it appears that there was at least some truth in the original report — Regions will exit wholesale lending, NMN reported:

Regions Financial Corp., Birmingham, Ala., has decided to close its warehouse lending unit, a company spokesman confirmed Aug. 14. He said mortgage bankers that borrow from the division were sent letters last Friday. “We’re trying to find lenders for those customers,” he added. The group has outstanding lines of about $350 million. Roughly 30 employees are affected by the move. The bank is trying to place those workers in other jobs at Regions.

Which leads me to ask a pertinent question: wouldn’t it have been a whole lot easier for everyone involved if Regions had just issued a press statement the same Friday it sent letters out to mortgage bankers informing them of the move?

Companies like IndyMac seem to get it — their company blog is an example of what I’d wish all publicly traded and some private companies would do. Why can’t others follow suit?