by Calculated Risk on 4/07/2008 08:35:00 PM

UPDATE2: Washington Mutual sent a memo to brokers today announcing the closing of their wholesale lending business. The last date for loan funding is June 13th (unless a previous commitment was issued). Excerpts:

Today, WaMu announced significant changes affecting our Home Loans business. As part of this announcement, and consistent with the company’s retail focused strategy, WaMu has made the very difficult decision to exit the Wholesale lending business.
...
WaMu will continue to originate loans through Consumer Direct and our Retail Lending channel.
...
This is a very hard day for WaMu and all of Wholesale Lending. We have appreciated your partnership and support over these many years and wish you the best as we move on to new opportunities.

UPDATE: Housing Wire has more, including an excerpt from an email allegedly from WaMu (unconfirmed):

“[C]onsistent with the company’s retail focused strategy, WaMu has made the very difficult decision to exit the Wholesale lending business.”

The Implode-o-Meter reports (not sourced):

Washington Mutual will announce later today they are backing out of Wholesale entirely, and Retail is retreating to the bank footprint. Expect an email blast to Brokers later today.

This is apparently part of the $5 billion cash infusion from TPG.