E*Trade Financial sells $3 billion mortgage securities

Jan 9 (Reuters) - E*Trade Financial Corp (ETFC.O), the online brokerage crippled by mounting losses at its mortgage business, said it sold about $3 billion in mortgage-backed securities and reduced wholesale borrowing levels by about $3.5 billion.

The company said it ended the year with $190 billion in client assets and $33 billion in cash.

E*Trade on Tuesday told Reuters that it will exit the U.S. institutional sales business eliminating about 30 jobs. (Reporting by Dinesh Nair; Editing by Derek Caney)