Tech Roundup: Enhanced Protection for RMBS Due Diligence

ComplianceEase, a provider of risk management solutions, announced Monday at the American Securitization Forum’s ASF 2009 Conference a new regulatory compliance risk mitigation solution called ComplianceAnalyzer LIFT (Legal Integrity for Financial Transactions), which according to the company, meets the new compliance due diligence criteria announced by the various credit rating agencies in late 2008. The new due diligence requirements for rated RMBS transactions detail the need for loan-level regulatory compliance audits that cover all applicable Federal, state and municipal mortgage lending laws and regulations. They also set forth minimum standards for maintenance of compliance technology that is employed as part of implementing that loan-level due diligence review, said ComplianceEase. “There are literally hundreds of lending laws in effect across the nation today. The associated penalties and costs to cure for non-compliance are very costly, especially when the loans are part of structured finance transactions,” said Mark Hughes, vice president of due diligence solutions at First American CoreLogic. “ComplianceAnalyzer provides us with real-time access to loan-level compliance auditing and risk analysis across all Federal, state, and municipal consumer credit and high-cost laws and lending regulations.” The solution is now available through all major firms that conduct independent third-party due diligence on residential mortgage-backed securities transactions. www.complianceease.com. Forecast Data Boosts Structured Finance Workstation Moody’s Analytics announced Monday it has enhanced its Structured Finance Workstation platform by integrating macroeconomic forecast data from Moody’s Economy.com and credit risk modeling from Moody’s Mortgage Metrics with the platform’s existing cash flow analytics tools. The enhanced platform is available to investors starting Monday. “Investors can now access integrated economic forecasts, credit risk modeling and securities valuation through a single platform,” said Jacob Grotta, managing director of Moody’s Analytics. “The combination of these services gives investors a powerful and flexible tool with industry-leading analytical capabilities.” “These enhancements are a direct response to our clients’ desire to include macroeconomic forecasts when analyzing structured finance transactions,” commented Mark McKenna, Director of Moody’s Analytics. “The addition of economic and credit forecasts will allow for a more rigorous analysis of asset-backed securities.” www.moodys.com OnMark Enhanced ICP Capital revealed Monday the latest enhancements to its OnMark system, ICP’s proprietary risk and valuation analysis model for whole loan and structured credit instruments. The latest enhancements help ICP clients create detailed reports projecting future cash flows and potential losses on these securities and underlying collateral, as well as perform ongoing surveillance to determine fair market valuations. “This is the next generation of valuation analysis and risk management analysis for our marketplace,” said Chris Howley, managing director of ICP Advisory and Solutions Group.   “OnMark provides a new level of transparency into intrinsic values for our clients as they upgrade their risk management procedures and investment strategies.” OnMark also focuses on risks associated with residential mortgage modifications and potential court-ordered changes to mortgage terms, or cram downs. “Loan modifications will have a measurable impact on mortgage-backed security values in the medium term,” said Dr. Wenbo Zhu, managing Director and head of Risk Analytics at ICP Capital.  “OnMark enables a granular review of loan level detail to predict how borrowers will respond to these programs.” www.iccapital.com Partnership Provides 24/7 Loan Underwriting Support Teres Solutions, Inc., a provider of direct, indirect and merchant lending software to credit unions and financial institutions, announced Monday that it has partnered with Lending Solutions, Inc. As part of the agreement, LSI will integrate with the Teres Solutions SAIL lending platform to allow loan officers at LSI to provide 24/7 outsourced underwriting support to SAIL customers. The move will ensure that loan applications are reviewed and underwritten in a timely manner for credit union and banking customers. According to a statement from Teres, a specialist at LSI can now be notified of a pending application in the system and provide a decision on the application within minutes. “At LSI our goal is to help credit unions grow their loan volume while providing world-class service to their members,” states Jeff Frantz, senior vice president of corporate development at Lending Solutions, Inc. “By responding to these indirect applications immediately, the member is taken ‘off the market’ and the credit union secures more loan business from the dealer.” www.teressolutions.com www.lendingsolutions.com Ellie Mae & Loan-Score Integrate Platforms Ellie Mae and Irvine-Calif.-based Loan-Score, will be integrating Loan-Score’s product and pricing solution, Power Pricer, with Ellie Mae’s Encompass Mortgage Management Solution, Banker Edition.  This embedded integration will provide Ellie Mae’s customers with the ability to quickly price and select loans through Loan-Score either at the point of sale or in back office functions—all directly from within Encompass Banker Edition. “In this market, efficiency is a key aspect to profitability,” said Jonathan Corr, Ellie Mae’s chief strategy officer. “With this integration, we’ll be providing our clients with access to Loan-Score’s rules engine, so they can price and decision loans in a seamless, transparent fashion, right from Encompass Banker Edition. Those seamless integrations are a key aspect of the kind of efficiency that drives profits.” Loan-Score’s Power Pricer is the product and pricing component of its comprehensive decisioning suite, which can be used for all lending channels and products.  In addition to centralizing pricing for all lending channels, according to Ellie Mae’s Statemenet, Power Pricer also returns instant product eligibility and best-fit pricing, provides loan-level drill downs while in the pipeline, and ensures that eligibility and pricing adhere to ever-changing investor guidelines. www.elliemae.com www.loanscore.com RCH Capital Selects FICS’ Commercial Servicer Financial Industry Computer Systems, Inc., a mortgage technology specialist that provides in-house commercial servicing technology to the mortgage industry, announced at MBA’s CREF/Multifamily Housing Convention & Expo 2009 the successful implementation of Commercial Servicerâ at Saint Petersburg, Fla.-based RCH Capital. RCH Capital, who through its affiliated investment entities, acts as a principal in acquiring commercial mortgage loans, purchased FICS’ commercial real estate loan servicing system, Commercial Servicer, in August 2008 to replace a proprietary loan servicing system.  The existing system did not have the functionality RCH Capital required; Therefore, RCH Capital selected FICS’ Commercial Servicer — and according to a press statement, RCH chose FICS based on its reliable reputation, as well as for the systems’ flexibility and ability to generate interest accrual and custom reports. “I, along with many of our servicers, have had previous experience working with FICS,” said Joe Amoriello, CPA and controller at RCH Capital.  “I knew the system would meet our requirements and serve as a reliable system that would enable our organization to work more efficiently.” www.rchcapital.com www.ficsloanware.com Write to Kelly Curran at [email protected]. Editor’s note: Tech Roundup runs every Monday, and offers a look into the various technology that makes the entire mortgage market work — whether origination or default, through to secondary market operations. If you’ve got a tech bit that we should know about, email the reporter above.