The last few months have been a time of great upheaval for the group of companies formerly headed by William Erbey. And now one of the companies Erbey once chaired is about to have a new leader.
Last month, Erbey was forced to resign from his positions as chairman of Ocwen Financial (OCN) and its related companies, Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), Altisource Residential Corporation (RESI), Altisource Asset Management Corporation (AAMC), and Home Loan Servicing Solutions (HLSS), as part of a $150 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services over allegations into the company’s servicing practices and its relationships with its affiliated companies.
After Erbey’s departure in January, the five companies each named replacement chairmen, including Ashish Pandey, who was named chairman of Altisource Residential and Altisource Asset Management.
Prior to being elevated to chairman of Altisource Residential and Altisource Asset Management, Pandey served as chief executive officer of both Altisource Residential and Altisource Asset Management and has held both of those positions since the companies were founded in 2012.
But now, Altisource Asset Management has a new CEO. The company, which, according to the company's website, exists solely to provide “portfolio management and corporate governance services” to Altisource Residential, announced Thursday that George Ellison will be the company’s new CEO.
Ellison joins Altisource Asset Management from Bank of America (BAC). During his 19 years at Bank of America, Ellison held several executive roles. Most recently, Ellison was the executive leading the team that managed the valuation and disposition of Bank of America's legacy mortgage loan portfolio and a leading member of Bank of America's Special Initiatives team that worked to resolve Bank of America's representation and warranty litigation.
Ellison’s time at Bank of America also included serving as global head of the structured products division within Bank of America's Investment Banking platform. His responsibilities involved all structured products including RMBS, ABS, ABCP Conduit and CMBS securities, among others.
While at Bank of America, Ellison was a named defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency against Bank of America over claims that the bank sold toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 2005 to 2007.
That lawsuit was settled in March 2014 for $9.33 billion.
Under the agreement, Bank of America was to pay Fannie Mae $4.4 billion to satisfy all claims and buyback private label securities from Fannie with an unpaid principal balance of approximately $1.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Bank of America was also to pay Freddie Mac $5.1 billion.
According to the FHFA, the settlement agreement provides for an aggregate payment of approximately $9.33 billion by Bank of America that includes the litigation resolution as well as a purchase of securities by Bank of America from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Click here to view the settlement agreement between Bank of America and the FHFA.
But now Ellison is leaving all of that behind and moving on to Altisource Asset Management.
"I am excited to join the management group of AAMC and look forward to continuing and enhancing the vision that the team commenced two years ago," Ellison said.
Pandey will continue in his role as CEO of Altisource Residential and has been named executive chairman of Altisource Asset Management’s board.
“We are pleased to welcome George to AAMC,” Pandey said. “He brings a wealth of industry experience as well as a tremendous leadership acumen to the role and we look forward to his focus on accelerating the growth of our company."
