Technology

Spokane, Wash.-based SharperLending LLC has partnered with Stewart Mortgage Information, Houston, to offer a nationwide title and escrow system for purchase, refinance, and equity loans.In turn, Stewart can now deliver its products to the wide range of lenders using the SharperLending platform. Stewart serves the real estate and mortgage industries through the electronic delivery of products and services required for origination, settlement, and post-closing. SharperLending bundles Stewart's title, escrow, closing, flood determination, and appraisal services at a single point of entry through its interface with the vendor's back-end system. The platform enables Stewart to integrate with lenders who prefer either a national or a local agent solution. In addition, the SharperLending platform offers Stewart as a vendor option to its more than 2,000 originators. The companies can be found on the Web at http//www.stewart.com and http://www.sharperlending.com.

Metavante Corp., Milwaukee, has acquired origination vendor GHR Systems, Wayne, Pa., and TREEV LLC, a document imaging/management vendor based in Herndon, Va.Both will become subsidiaries of Metavante, and no name change is planned for either company. Metavante said it paid $19.5 for TREEV, of which approximately $17.6 million will be funded using Marshall & Ilsley Corp. common stock. Metavante also disclosed that it paid $65 million for GHR, of which approximately $55 million will be funded using Marshall & Ilsley Corp. common stock. Both deals are expected to close in the third quarter. The management teams at both GHR and TREEV will remain intact. Metavante can be found on the Web at http://www.metavante.com.

Standard & Poor's has tackled the issue of compliance with the release of "Security to Entity CrossWalk" online.The application enhances operational controls and efficiency by automatically linking more than five million securities identifiers (including CUSIPs and ISINs) from S&P and Telekurs Financial with corporate identifiers from the D&B global database, according to S&P. The application makes it possible for data managers, compliance and risk managers, portfolio managers, and operations personnel to meet new risk management mandates (such as under the Basel II accord and the Sarbanes-Oxley law) by instantly identifying risk on an asset, portfolio, companywide, or market level. Web access to "Security to Entity CrossWalk" offers clients the ability to conduct individual look-ups and on-the-fly searches. The application can be found on the Web at http://www.crosswalkweb.com.

AllRegs, an Eagan, Minn.-based online publisher of reference information for the mortgage industry, has announced the addition to its state compliance offering of Spanish versions of over 300 state-specific disclosures required at the time of origination.The Spanish versions are available without cost to any subscriber and are searchable and accessible within AllRegs to non-Spanish-speaking users, the company said. "Providing Spanish language disclosures achieves several important goals," said Steven M. Kaplan, a partner at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP’s Washington, D.C., law office and a specialist in national residential mortgage lending issues. "Not only is it required by certain laws, but it helps ensure that Spanish-speaking loan applicants understand the terms of the loan. It is a good risk management tool." Written and provided by TenA Cos., a St. Paul, Minn.-based provider of quality assurance systems, the disclosures mirror the English versions already included in AllRegs State Compliance, the company said. The companies can be found online at http://www.allregs.com, http://www.klng.com, and http://www.tenaco.com.

David Jensen has been named chief financial officer of DocuTech Corp., an Idaho Falls, Idaho-based provider of compliance services and documentation technology for the mortgage industry.Mr. Jensen has more than 30 years of accounting and financial management experience, DocuTech said. Before joining the company, he served as CFO for Idaho Falls-based Walker Produce, Walker Farms, and McNeil Development, and he held executive posts at other companies. DocuTech can be found online at http://www.docutechcorp.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced an agreement to acquire Service Link LP, a title insurance agency and provider of title and closing services to national lenders, for an undisclosed amount.The purchase will also include Asset Link, a company owned by Service Link that manages and disposes of real estate owned. "The acquisition of Service Link provides FNF and its title insurance subsidiaries with centralized title and closing capabilities and improved direct access to national lender accounts for both refinance transactions and emerging lender-driven purchase transactions," said FNF president Raymond R. Quirk. "Service Link will operate as a distinct brand under our Chicago Title subsidiary and will establish underwriting agreements with the FNF family of title insurance underwriters." FNF can be found online at http://www.fnf.com.

Melville, N.Y.-based American Brokers Conduit has launched a website that offers mortgage brokers a new set of tools and resources that allow them to manage the loan process online from locking to pipeline status.In addition, marketing materials can be individually customized for brokers to use for customer retention purposes, the company said. ABC, the wholesale division of American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., a mortgage real estate investment trust, is the 13th-largest mortgage wholesaler lender in the nation. At the end of the first quarter, ABC had a network of over 8,000 wholesale brokers, an increase of over 40% since the end of the fourth quarter and up from 2,839 brokers at the beginning of 2004. The new website can be found at http://www.abconduit.com.

Chicago-based TransUnion Settlement Solutions has released Pre-Decision Qualifier, which offers a value range for a property before a full appraisal has been ordered.PDQ delivers property characteristics for up to 15 recent neighborhood sales, a notation indicating irregular sales history, and recent transaction history, the company said. The product is designed to be used by lenders to determine whether there is a need for a full appraisal before investing in a local appraiser. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.transunionssi.com.

Mavent Inc., Irvine, Calif., has launched Mavent Compliance Console (MC2), a Web-based portal that allows lenders, loan purchasers and other mortgage-related businesses to submit loan data for a complete compliance review.With MC2, mortgage professionals can submit loan data on a manual, batch, or combined basis to the Mavent Expert System, Mavent's flagship automated compliance software that collects and processes electronic loan data against a legal rules repository. In addition, MC2 offers several proprietary features and workflow methodologies that enable users with limited or no access to electronic loan data to input information for a review, Mavent said. MC2 also includes a reporting tool that provides mortgage businesses with detailed information on both a loan-level and aggregate pipeline or pool basis. Mavent can be found on the Web at http://www.mavent.com.

South Florida-based Homekeys has announced the introduction of ValueSearch, a patent-pending online tool that enables homebuyers and real estate investors to identify potentially undervalued properties.This will give real estate investors the same ability that stock investors have had for years, the company said. "ValueSearch is the first application that extends automated valuation model technology from a single property to a set of search results," said Manuel Iraola, Homekeys' president and chief executive officer. "Most real estate sites enable you to find properties by location and features such as number of bedrooms and baths. ValueSearch enables you to refine search results by displaying properties that are potentially a good value, where the asking price is near or below the estimated value." Homekeys can be found online at http://www.homekeys.net.