Technology

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Mortgage Bankers Association, has released its first data standard for the commercial/multifamily mortgage industry.The release of version 1.0 of the Commercial Servicing Transfer Standard is the first of many planned for the industry, MISMO said. It was chosen to be MISMO's first commercial standard "because it answers the industry's need for a standardized way to move large amounts of data and improve what is currently a labor-intensive process," the organization said. MISMO said its data standards will ultimately "reduce costs, streamline processes, improve accuracy, increase data transparency, and boost investor confidence in mortgages as an asset class." MISMO can be found online at http://www.mismo.org.

Fannie Mae and Thomson TradeWeb, a fixed-income trading network based in Orlando, Fla., have announced the introduction of technology that will enable institutional investors to directly access and trade Fannie Mae's Discount Notes online through authorized dealers.Robert Dolecki, director of short-term funding at Fannie Mae, said the move offers investors a "significantly easier" way to view and trade the government-sponsored enterprise's Discount Notes. "Additionally, the technology will increase the liquidity and transparency of our short-term securities," Mr. Dolecki said. The companies can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com and http://www.tradeweb.com.

Arlington Capital Mortgage Corp., Bensalem, Pa., has picked Archive Systems' ASPEN 360 Software-as-a-Service system to create a central repository to give its branches online access to loan documents.The SaaS system means Arlington will require no software, hardware, or infrastructure to use the system. Arlington Capital personnel will scan and upload loan documents via ASPEN 360's Scanning Gateway technology. Arlington will also use the system to provide direct access to investors looking to purchase loans. Fairfield, N.J.-based Archive Systems provides DPO (document process outsourcing) services. The companies can be found online at http://www.thinkarlington.com/ac and http://www.archivesystems.com.

ANTs Software Inc., Burlingame, Calif., has announced the launch of the SFG Bancorp system, which offers to reduce a one- to three-day loan application process to a single 22-minute phone call.SFG, a real estate brokerage and direct mortgage lender based in Pleasanton, Calif., has adopted the ANTs data server to create an integrated mortgage lending system the company touts as slashing the total cost of ownership by 90% compared with that of competing systems. The ANTs Data Server 3.4 serves as the central repository for all customer data. ANTs partnered with sfaFinity Inc., San Jose, Calif., to integrate its customer relationship management capabilities with the ANTs Data Server. SFG Bancorp's resulting SWEEP system is projected to support 1,200 simultaneous users (local or remote via the Internet) and 90 million database records by the end of 2006. The companies can be found online at http://www.ants.com, http://www.sfgbancorp.com/content.aspx, and http://www.sfafinity.com.

Valuation technology company eAppraiseIT LLC, Poway, Calif., has announced the acquisition of Network Appraisal Services, Kalamazoo, Mich.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. NAS manages appraiser networks for national and regional lenders and develops online systems that help them comply with regulations by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to prevent directed appraisals. NAS executives will remain with the company, which will retain its name and operate as an independent subsidiary of eAppraiseIT, the company said. "NAS expands the range of services that we are able to deliver to the lending community," said Anthony Merlo, president of eAppraiseIT. "It allows us to better serve retail-focused lenders who maintain their own network of appraisers, and it will also help our other clients implement safeguards that help remove bias from the appraiser selection process." The company can be found on the Internet at http://www.eappraiseit.com.

Flagstar Bank, Troy, Mich., has announced the integration of its Digital Document Transfer platform with BeesPath Inc.'s RecordsDirect to create what it calls the first system to extend image delivery services to closing agents in the mortgage industry.The two products work together to provide "virtually immediate delivery and processing" of closed loan documents and to enable closing agents to share the benefits enjoyed by lenders and investors, Flagstar said. "Today, unsigned loan documents are being delivered electronically to closing agent before a loan closes," said Todd Hougaard, president of Richmond, Utah-based BeesPath. "This integration allows signed documents to be delivered electronically post-closing." The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.flagstar.com and http://www.beespath.com.

Joseph McCartin, chief information officer at National City, recently told a crowd at the 9th Annual SourceMedia Technology Conference that his institution is implementing technology so that live people only have to touch a loan in exceptional cases.The goal is to eliminate redundant tasks and develop a system that electronically processes a loan without human intervention unless a problem arises. The goal is to make loan officers experts in mortgage lending instead of just paper pushers. The answer, according to Mr. McCartin, is for the lender to isolate each part of the lending process as a service that can be called up automatically with a business rule. Implementing service-oriented architecture was a big trend at the Miami Beach conference, and was identified by all the lender speakers as the future of mortgage technology and a high priority at their lending institutions.

GMAC Commercial Mortgage, Horsham, Pa., is touting its strategy to use technology as an enabler for outsourcing at the 9th Annual SourceMedia Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami Beach, Fla.Galen Hain, vice president of software development at GMACCM, noted that outsourcing goes by several names and is a politically charged topic. Nevertheless, outsourcing is a necessity, he said. GMACCM has avoided huge layoffs by using technology to create a model that upper management owns and manages. The lender has repositioned staff into other areas of the business, transitioning its technology coders to technology architects, for example. Mr. Hain said these employees are now more important to GMACCM, given their expertise in creating a service-oriented platform to make outsourcing more seamless for the lender.

NetBank Inc., an Atlanta-based online bank, has reported a mortgage-related net loss of $180,000 ($0.00 per share) for 2005, compared with net income of $4.2 million ($0.09 per share) in 2004, although the company did record a profitable fourth quarter.Net income for the fourth quarter totaled $895,000 ($0.02 per share), compared with a net loss of $17.7 million ($0.38 per share) a year earlier, NetBank reported. The production of conforming mortgages totaled $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter, a decline of 14.7% from that of the third quarter, and the production of nonconforming mortgages totaled $807 million, a decline of 8.6%, the company reported. "As we had reported throughout the year, our mortgage operations were under pressure due to a highly competitive pricing environment," said Douglas K. Freeman, NetBank's chairman and chief executive officer. "This pressure, although not surprising, was simply more irrational than anticipated, particularly within the nonconforming business where our revenue margins dropped an average of 64 basis points during the year. Our mortgage operations went from a positive pretax contribution of $21.1 million a year ago to a pretax loss of $17.7 million this year." The company can be found online at http://www.netbank.com.

"What's out there that we can buy right now?" was the question Freddie Mac's Ed Albrigo threw out to attendees in his keynote address opening the 9th Annual Mortgage Technology Conference in Miami.Mr. Albrigo, vice president in charge of Freddie Mac's enterprise planning office, said the government-sponsored enterprise was prepared to purchase out-of-the-box technology solutions that minimize needed customization. He said Freddie Mac, like the mortgage lenders it serves, needs to come quickly to market with new products at a time when the capital markets are awash in funds. That means, he said, that Freddie Mac no longer has the luxury of involving itself in lengthy projects requiring a high degree of customization. He said the mortgage industry as a whole is governed today by three realities: consolidation, fierce competition, and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory pressures. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.