MetLife to close Vancouver offices, lay off about 50 workers

MetLife Inc. is closing its mortgage origination business operations, at a cost of about 50 jobs in Clark County and 4,300 across the nation, the company announced Tuesday.

MetLife has fewer than 50 local employees working in its three Vancouver offices, which are at 400 E. Mill Plain Blvd, suite 300; 821 S.E. 160th Ave.; and 1200 NE 99th St.

“Those jobs will go away,” said John Calagna, a spokesman in New York.

The company will continue processing loan applications in the pipeline, and employees will receive at least 60 days’ notice of their termination date, he said. They will be given severance and can apply for other jobs within the company, he said. Some sales jobs will be eliminated at the end of this month, he said.

MetLife will still sell reverse mortgages and will continue to service its existing loans and operate its loan call centers, Calagna said

The New York-based company, the largest U.S. life insurer, has been dismantling its banking business rather than face increased regulatory oversight of the banking industry. Its banking operations, founded in 2001, account for just 2 percent of the company’s operations but they made MetLife subject to the Dodd-Frank banking regulations, Calagna said.

Last year, GE Capital purchased the bulk of MetLife’s retail bank deposits, about $7.5 billion, with another $3 billion to be transferred this year. The insurer put its home loan operations on the market in October but decided to shut down the operations after failing to receive an acceptable offer, Calagna said.

The 4,300 employees expected to lose their jobs represent about 6.5 percent of MetLife’s total 66,000 workforce.