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.
More than 230 years ago, Dickinson penned the famous line: “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.
"We have to get this right collectively," he said in his first appearance in his new job.
The conference drew a crowd of only about 1,100, a far cry from the several thousand paying guests it used to attract when the mortgage market was awash with investors and no shortage of people trying to serve them. But it was still larger than the 800 who attended last year.
There was no official count of what was a highly noticeable contingent of unregistered industry players who worked the hallways and lounges of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square.
Only weeks after leaving his previous position as an assistant secretary at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Federal Housing Administration commissioner, Stevens said he has seen first-hand how little an impact a fractious message has on policy makers in Washington.
The parade of large and small groups, often appearing at odds with one another, is not functionally positive, he told the conference's opening session.
"I can assure you that members of Congress, regulators and the administration, as well as their staff, only have limited time to listen and understand," he said. "That's why we need a strong, single voice to articulate our message and command an important role in decisions that are made."
Of course, Stevens, who took over the reins of the MBA on May 1, would have that voice come from the group he now heads, 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."
