First Franklin Cuts Jobs

Merrill Lynch cut jobs at its nonprime wholesale mortgage lender First Franklin Financial Corp. last week. The amount of layoffs was not disclosed nor was the total number of employees before the announcement. Merrill is also closing First Franklin's Campbell, Calif. office but did not elaborate on how many of its 28 offices across the U.S. will be also be shut down. First Franklin was purchased by Merrill in 2006 for $1.3 billion. The lender originated more than $29 billion in loans in 2005, according to a Sept. 2006 news release.