Will New Century Financial become the Wal-Mart of lending?

Orange County Register reports:

Brad Morrice, who takes over as chief executive of New Century Financial this summer, says his company can live with lower profits.

For a publicly traded real estate investment trust, such talk might make an investor cringe.

But Morrice isn't planning to make less money overall.

New Century is one of the largest lenders in the nation that specializes in "subprime" mortgages, loans for borrowers with spotty credit.

Competition has heated up with the biggest names in mortgages now doing subprime: Wells Fargo, Countrywide Financial and Washington Mutual.

You'll want to read the whole article on this market.