September 11, 2007 (LPAC)--The subprime mortgage crisis has today claimed its first victim -- in Britain. Victoria Mortgage Funding, a specialist in sub-prime lending, announced it was closing its doors Monday. Victoria is actually run by a U.S. company, New York-based Venturion Capitol, and its entry to the British market two years ago, marked the internationalization of the subprime lending "contagion," to use the headline of The Australian Business Journal, which nervously noted its passing. In their coverage they noted that it was Barclays Capital and UBS which were the main financers, and they are believed to have withdrawn their funding, leading to the shutdown. "This is the first of potentially a number of businesses that will have difficulties," said one analyst. "They have [realized] the game is over in terms of using the credit markets as a cheap source of funding." Victoria had over 1500 loans active and over 350 pending. These will now be offered to GMAC-RFC, another U.S.-based company that entered the British market in 2004.