US firm Capital One said it will eliminate 1,900 jobs and shut down a wholesale mortgage unit it acquired less than a year ago.
Capital One, best known as a credit card issuer, is the latest lender to get hit by the US mortgage crisis, where rising defaults by borrowers have made investors less willing to buy repackaged home loans.
The closure of its GreenPoint Mortgage Incorporation will result in an $860 million charge, or $2.15 per share, and Capital One slashed its 2007 earnings forecast.
Capital One plans to close GreenPoint's headquarters in California and shut 31 offices in 19 US states. It expects to take most of the charge for the closure in 2007.
Shares fell in after-market trading but then rose as investors cheered the company's exit from an increasingly risky business.
