Ally Securities to Exit its Mortgage-Related Broker Dealer Activities

On the heels of news that Ally Financial Inc. was making a $134 million dividend payment to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to pay back the government from its bailout, the firm has announced that Ally Securities, the broker dealer subsidiary of Ally Financial, recently decided to exit its mortgage-related broker dealer activities, and will be winding down that operation in an orderly manner over the coming weeks. All existing trades will be honored. Ally is 74 percent owned by the U.S. government after taking more than $17 billion in bailout funds during the financial crisis. Ally has paid approximately $5.5 billion to the government since February of 2009, and after this recent payment, still repoprtedly owes the U.S. government approximnately $12 billion.  Ally is expected to put its Residential Capital mortgage subsidiary into bankruptcy in the near future as the firm shifts its focus on its auto lending and online banking business. In 2011, Ally said it was largely exiting the wholesale mortgage market in order to focus on retail originations.