State regulators

Ocwen Financial Corp.'s acquisition of PHH Corp. will help the nonbank servicer rebuild scale that's been diminished by years of regulatory restrictions and the decline in distressed mortgage volume brought about by improvements in the overall housing market.

From accelerating its subservicing transformation to overcoming regulatory obstacles, here's a look at three reasons behind Ocwen Financial Corp.'s $360 million acquisition of PHH Corp.

Pennsylvania will soon start accepting applications for new servicing licenses added to address the growth of nondepositories, joining other states with similar authority.

Ocwen Financial is receiving a lump-sum payment of $280 million from New Residential under the latest restructuring of the mortgage servicing rights sale.

PHH Corp. agreed to a $45 million settlement to resolve allegations from 49 states and the District of Columbia that it engaged in "foreclosure process abuses" involving "inconsistent signatures" in its servicing business from 2009 to 2012. The settlement comes as the nonbank mortgage company continues its legal challenge to a separate regulatory action by the CFPB.

PHH Mortgage was the first mortgage servicer to be fined by the New York Department of Financial Services for failing to maintain a "zombie" property.

Movement Mortgage will pay $1.1 million in penalties and customer refunds to settle charges by California regulators it serviced loans without a state license and for collecting unearned interest.

Ocwen Financial Corp. will move its servicing portfolio to Black Knight's LoanSphere MSP system of record, following years of regulatory scrutiny of its existing technology provided by Altisource Portfolio Solutions.

New Residential Investment Corp. may seek to accelerate the process of transferring more than $100 billion in mortgage servicing rights it agreed to buy from Ocwen for $400 million.

Ocwen Financial Corp. is settling allegations by Alabama and Minnesota that it engaged in improper mortgage activities, bringing the total of states it has settled with to 17.