Wizard's Bay brokers to continue

It will be business as usual for Bay mortgage brokers associated with Wizard Home Loans despite the company quitting the New Zealand market.
The non-bank mortgage lender yesterday announced it would stop offering any new mortgages but will continue to service 4000 existing customers with loans worth about $1 billion. Up to 80 jobs will be lost across the 25 branches nationwide, which are operated by local licensees.
John Roberts, principal for Tauranga, Mount Maunganui and Rotorua branches said it would be business as usual for him and the other three self-employed brokers.
Mr Roberts said management of parent company GE Money had yet to decide on final restructuring.
He his colleagues would focus on servicing existing clients. They would not offer new mortgages.
Tauranga North branch owner John Rapson said his partner would lose her job but he would continue to operate as an independent broker.
Over the past 12 months, four other people based at the office had left the business which he has owned for four years. They had either moved on to other lending firms or other employment.
Wizard spokesman Geoff Lynch estimated around 80 jobs would go as a result of the move.
This comes on top of about 80 New Zealand jobs which had been cut by GE Money in October.
At the time, the finance company said it was pulling back from the Australasian home loan and car finance market because of the global financial crisis.
It said while it would not do any new lending through third parties, its Wizard network would continue to offer home loans.
The news of the revised decision comes just a day after GE announced it was dropping interest rates for existing and new customers.
GE has been seeking a buyer for Wizard since May. It paid A$500 million ($599m) for the business four years ago.
On this side of the Tasman, GE said it had reluctantly decided to shut down Wizard New Zealand because of the ongoing effects of the credit crisis and the state of the housing market here.