The new chairman of the Mortgage Bankers Association called on members of the industry's widely diverse factions to pull together or face the prospect that others will control their destiny.
"All of us must be part of the changes that affect our industry," Michael Young of Cenlar Capital Corp., said at the meeting's opening session. "If not, we will watch Washington shape our future for us."
Young vowed to continue MBA's "inclusive, big-tent" policies. The association has roughly 2,200-member companies from all sectors -- originations, servicing, underwriting and technology, focusing on both residential and commercial real estate. Members run the gamut in size, from international giants to small banks serving a single community. Cenlar itself is a major New Jersey-based subservicer of residential mortgages, including traditional loans and reverses.
All totaled, MBA's members employ some 280,000 people.
Though the various factions sometimes don't see eye-to-eye, the new MBA chair reminded members that "unity and numbers are not lost on members of Congress, the Administration and the regulators."
But to shape "policy and the mortgage market in ways that advance your business objectives," he added, the trade group needs the "support and engagement" of all sectors.
"We're all in the same boat and the waves are big and choppy, and they just seem to keep coming," Young told the convention. "But all we need is a little support, a little help from one another, to achieve our goals."
