John Dickinson may have been more eloquent when he wrote the "Liberty Song" in 1768. But David Stevens, the new president and chief executive of the Mortgage Bankers Association, emphasized the same point at the group's annual secondary market conference in New York.
Dickinson wrote: "By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall!" Stevens said: The mortgage industry must speak as one if it hopes to get its points across in the pending debate that will shape the future of the nation's housing finance market.
Only weeks from his previous position as FHA Commissioner, Stevens said he has seen first-hand how little an impact a fractious message has on policymakers in Washington. The parade of large and small groups, often appearing at odds with one another, is not functionally positive, he told a sparsely attended opening session.
"I can assure you that Members of Congress, regulators and the Administration, as well as their staff, have limited time to listen," he said. "That's why we need a strong, single voice to command an important role in decisions that are made."
Of course, Stevens would have that voice come from the MBA, a nearly 100-year-old trade group that purports to speak for the every sector of the mortgage business and, "therefore offers a greater base and strategic advantage."
Mortgage brokers, small community banks and other segments may not see it that way. But the new MBA leader said that while "small, niche trade organizations are important, they do not have the reach or breadth to represent the entire industry."
And, he added, "it is the entire industry that is under attack. Now is not the time to fight turf wars or splinter our power."
