At the start of 2013, HousingWire noted that the year would bring mergers, consolidation and possible layoffs as servicers and originators — as well as firms offering them services and products — struggle to find their footing in a transitioning mortgage market.
As further proof of that, Genpact Mortgage Services Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genpact International Inc., advised the Texas Workforce Commission this past week that it intends to lay off 65 employees – eight of them salaried workers, the rest hourly positions.
The job cuts, which are the subject of a notice filed with the state this month, will affect Genpact’s Richardson, Texas, facility. The cuts are set to begin on Feb. 17.
A spokesperson for Genpact could not be immediately reached for comment.
Genpact offers business process outsourcing in the form of mortgage processing and originations.
As early as September, HousingWire reported that a drop in mortgage applications — or lower volumes overall — had some mortgage analysts forecasting additional mortgage-related layoffs. At the time, loan applications had fallen as much as 13.5% after a two-year refinancing wave that started in 2011.
"There may be ongoing residual efforts to get the remaining HARP-eligible borrowers refinanced but those efforts are likely to be impeded by a potentially severe contraction in mortgage banking staffing," explained BofAML mortgage-backed securities strategists Chris Flanagan and Adam Katz at the time.
They added, "We think there is a significant chance that new lows in industry employment levels will hit over the next year and the lack of staffing will create a new negative feedback loop that further tightens mortgage credit availability."
