Mortgage industry groups announce new tech sprint

A new tech showcase is in the works that aims to provide guidance and clarity to the mortgage industry as it tries to uniformly address shared residential lending compliance issues. 

A cooperative effort between the Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, the tech sprint will kick off with a virtual event on Dec. 3. The two groups invited state supervisors, lenders, technology providers and other interested parties to gather and discuss current obstacles to adopting common standards related to mortgage compliance. 

Based on shared feedback from the event, CSBS and MISMO will offer selected technology firms an opportunity to demo their solutions at the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System's annual conference in mid February. Ultimately, organizers expect the tech sprint to spur adoption of a MISMO dataset that will become an industry norm, streamlining supervisory examinations for residential loans. 

The mortgage compliance dataset was previously designed in a MISMO working group composed of lending industry participants.

"At MISMO, we believe that alignment between regulators and the mortgage industry is key to building a more transparent and efficient housing finance system," said President Brian Vieaux in a press release. The tech sprint would serve as an opportunity to "put that belief into action," he added. 

"By bringing supervisors and industry stakeholders together at this early stage, we can create a smoother pathway," concurred CSBS President and CEO Brandon Milhorn. "We are excited to partner with MISMO on this next step toward implementing the MCD." 

Previous mortgage events supporting tech development

Similar efforts to support innovation within the mortgage industry have taken place for several years in various forms. Earlier this decade, the Federal Housing Finance Agency held two editions of its own tech sprint.  

The 2023 event spotlighted how data digitization might lead to increased access, fairness and affordability in mortgage lending. One year later, the technology industry gathered again to learn about the various benefits of generative artificial intelligence when applied to home finance activities. 

For several years beginning in 2019, Flagstar Bank also offered its own accelerator program, the sole initiative of its type that specifically supported the mortgage technology startup community. Past graduates of the accelerator include Stavvy, Orangegrid, Home Lending Pal and Calque.