Bank’s Sale of Loan Unit Will Eliminate Jobs

Bankers Trust of California said Monday that it has agreed to sell its commercial loan servicing unit to a Mellon Bank Corp. subsidiary, eliminating nearly three dozen jobs here.

The price to be paid by Mellon Mortgage Co. wasn’t disclosed.

Under the agreement, Mellon Mortgage will obtain rights to service a portfolio of 1,843 commercial loans, as well as $7.9 billion in primarily commercial mortgage-backed securities.

It will bill borrowers and collect payments on the loans and other products out of offices in Cleveland, Denver and Overland Park, Kan. Mellon will interview employees in the Bankers Trust unit but isn’t guaranteeing any jobs.

“We will explore opportunities to provide employment, but our needs are modest,” Mellon spokesman Jim Dever said.

Dever said anyone offered jobs probably will have to relocate. Some workers may be able to land jobs in Mellon’s growing California operation.

The acquisition makes Mellon Mortgage the nation’s second-largest servicer of commercial mortgages with a servicing portfolio of $19 billion in loans and 14 commercial loan origination offices.

Bankers Trust is selling the unit because the operation isn’t big enough and because it wants to use the proceeds to build its already large trust and custody operations, spokesman Bill McBride said.

After the sale, Bankers Trust of California will have about 180 workers at its Irvine office. The state operation is part of Bankers Trust New York Corp., the nation’s seventh-largest banking company.