Technology

Dynatek has made plans for a phased launch of an improved version of its MORvision loan origination software that will be called MORvisionTi , the company said at its 13th annual user conference in Livonia, Mich.The new MORvisionTi will utilize new technologies like Web services/.NET, Smart Client, service-oriented architecture and n-tier functionality. The system will include a new business process management central module to streamline loan management, advanced product and pricing, e-mortgage ready capability, and an enhanced point-of-sale system. The Web Status Center to enable the user to accommodate Web services was the first deliverable of the new system. The next deliverable will be the POS component, which will include synchronized docked and undocked access to the software, improved loan selection, improved calculators, simplified data entry and advanced printing functionality. Dynatek can be found on the Web at http://www.dynatek.com.

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of the eLending U.S. operations of Emergis Inc., Montreal, Quebec.Emergis disclosed on its website that the purchase price is US$13.75 million in cash. The eLending Emergis operation enables mortgage lenders to obtain third-party services needed to process, close, and fund mortgage loans via the Internet. In addition, it provides the capability to manage, electronically sign, and store mortgage documents in a secure electronic environment. Fiserv said the eLending U.S. Emergis technology includes the Vendor Services Exchange component on which Fiserv's Electronic Partner Connection operates as a private-label system. The Electronic Partner Connection is an electronic network that provides mortgage originators with a single online point of entry for the order and delivery of any mortgage-related products or services. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fiserv.com and http://www.emergis.com.

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Experian has positioned itself as a major consumer-direct player on the Internet with the acquisition of LowerMyBills.com for $330 million and the launch of Experian Interactive.The deal also calls for an additional $50 million performance-related compensation over the next two years. LowerMyBills is a mortgage-lead generator that assists consumers with debt consolidation and other financial decisions. All employees and management for LowerMyBills.com will be retained, Experian said. Consumer Interactive will combine the acquired entity with its Experian Consumer Direct, MetaReward, and Affiliate Fuel business lines.

MERS, the industry-owned system for tracking ownership of mortgage loans and servicing rights, has registered 30 million loans, according to the organization.MERS said it hit the 30 million mark, a 35% increase from one year earlier, on April 6. Decision One Mortgage, a Charlotte, N.C.-based division of the HSBC Group, registered the 30 millionth loan. The company has over 200,000 loans registered on MERS. Electronic registration eliminates the need for paper assignments when trading loans and servicing rights. MERS can be found on the Internet at http://www.mersinc.org.

NetBank Inc., an Atlanta-based online bank, has reported a mortgage-related net loss of $2.0 million ($0.04 per share) for the first quarter, compared with net income of $9.4 million ($0.20 per share) a year earlier.The production of conforming mortgages totaled $2.1 billion in the quarter, a decline of 8.6%, and the production of nonconforming mortgages totaled $630 million, a decline of 18.4%, the company reported. "The current-period loss is largely centered in our nonconforming mortgage operation," said Douglas K. Freeman, NetBank's chairman and chief executive officer. ".... More aggressive pricing industrywide and higher-than-normal provision expenses pushed results well below the level our other developing lines of business can offset today. We consider the prevailing nonconforming business conditions atypical. We are fully committed to the nonconforming operation and believe in its ability to contribute significant profitability to our bottom line in normal conditions." The company can be found online at http://www.netbank.com.

The MLS Systems and Solutions group of Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, Jacksonville, Fla., has released an updated version of its Paragon MLS system, a Web-based multiple listing service platform.Enhancements include updates to the Comparative Market Analysis, Associated Documents, and Listing Photo Management features. The CMA updates have enhanced the feature's user interface, improving its workflow functionality, the company said. In addition, comparative graphs and charts will now be included in the CMA feature. The Associated Documents feature enables any documents related to a specific listing, such as inspection or disclosure reports, to be stored as part of that listing in the Paragon system. Lastly, updates to the Listing Photo Management feature include a new drag-and-drop interface. Fidelity also announced that the application can now be accessed from any browser-enabled device, such as a Wireless Application Protocol-enabled mobile phone or a personal data assistant. The FNF family of companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com and http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com.

Del Mar Database, San Diego, has released its Hosted Solution Suite, providing application service provider access to its entire product line.The Hosted Solutions are designed for lenders that require centralized data access for remote users, have limited information technology resources, prefer lower upfront costs, and seek rapid implementation. Del Mar announced the new offering at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Marketing Conference in San Francisco.

Cogent Economics has used its annual symposium, held recently at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco, to sound a "clarion call" for enterprise-wide quality-control systems.Keynote speaker James Robinson discussed the three pillars of the Basel II capital adequacy II framework -- minimum capital requirements, the supervisory review process, and market discipline requirements -- as a mandate for enterprise QC rather than the relegation of QC to "a small department in the basement." Though the Basel Accords will primarily affect larger institutions, he said smaller banks and mortgage lenders will have incentives to adopt advanced approaches to risk assessment to pass regulatory muster and enjoy increased investor confidence in their loan originations. Symposium attendees also were briefed on plans to migrate the entire code base of CogentQC from FoxPro to C# (a language for Microsoft's .net platform) and to ease connectivity to SQL databases by the fourth quarter of this year. Cogent can be found online at http://www.cogentqc.com.

Wachovia Mortgage, the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, has launched Palisades Technology Partners' Impact Mortgage Services Suite, a fully automated, Web-based loan origination system."Palisades' Impact Loan Processing System delivers a robust lending platform that we integrated tightly into our infrastructure," said Laurie Smith, director of lending technology for Wachovia. "We are particularly excited about the potential for extending our use of Impact's components for loan pricing, fee calculations, and compliance as Web services." The company said the project required the development and implementation of interfaces to many downstream systems, including Wachovia's in-house point-of-sale system, using a MISMO-like Interface Manager and standard messages over an IBM MQ protocol. (MISMO is the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.) The implementation will also facilitate the electronic delivery of documents leveraging Wachovia's Electronic Forms and Image Archive infrastructure.

Ellie Mae, Dublin, Calif., has acquired Michigan-based Lasso Technologies, a developer of Web-enabled applications, to be able to offer its Encompass point-of-sale software as an application service provider.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Lasso used to offer Encompass on an ASP basis as a third-party service, which is why the acquisition was such a good fit, said Jonathan Corr, senior vice president for products at Ellie Mae. As a result, Ellie Mae is launching Encompass Anywhere, a new Web-hosted solution of its flagship loan origination and management system. Lasso management will be absorbed into Ellie Mae, the company said. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.elliemae.com.