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With all signs pointing to a continued hot streak in 2022, lenders will be turning to technology solutions to help process and close loans quickly and efficiently in an ultra-competitive market.
“The last two years brought together an incredible combination of factors,” said Jonas Moe, senior vice president, marketing at ICE Mortgage Technology. “First, you had the pandemic, then our industry had record loan volume, and now the U.S. housing market is experiencing a frenzied demand that’s exacerbating a longstanding housing shortage. As all these factors come together, it tested whether technology was prepared to handle the volume.”
Moe adds that ICE Mortgage Technology, however, “didn’t skip a beat.” In 2021, the company was honored as a Tech100 Mortgage winner for its impact and innovation in housing. ICE Mortgage Technology offers a single platform that leverages the largest connected network in the industry to automate everything from consumer engagement through loan registration and every step in between.
HousingWire reached out to Moe to learn how tech and automation can support lenders in the current market and what’s to come in tech innovation for 2022.
HousingWire: How is a strong focus on mortgage tech especially important during this current sales boom?
Jonas Moe: The last two years brought together an incredible combination of factors. First, you had the pandemic, then our industry had record loan volume, and now the U.S. housing market is experiencing a frenzied demand that’s exacerbating a longstanding housing shortage. As all these factors come together, it tested whether technology was prepared to handle the volume. For lenders, they had to quickly evaluate their technology partners, their systems, and their tools. For borrowers, people expected a full digital mortgage. From ICE Mortgage Technology’s perspective, we didn’t skip a beat. Our technology helped process and close record volumes and was the backbone for lenders adapting to the pandemic and needs of their customers. Bringing together Ellie Mae, Simplifile, and MERS to form ICE Mortgage Technology; was a huge advantage for our customers, as it leveraged the strengths of all three companies to extend our industry leading digital mortgage and eClose solutions. As consumer expectations change, staying focused on adopting the right mortgage technologies can determine success or failure. We believe in investing in digitization, and we know how to connect our customers to where they need to automate. We are poised to deliver that technology through our continued investments and innovations in the mortgage space through Simplifile, the market leader in e-recording and eClosing-related services, and MERS, the industry’s central utility and the authoritative system of record of loan registrations.
HousingWire: We hear a lot about margin compression in the industry right now. How can tech play a role in improving margins for lenders?
Jonas Moe: While margin compression affects banks and lenders the same, smaller community banks are at higher risk when their profit margins shrink. That’s where automation and tech can help level the playing field by alleviating some of the manual process that’s still in place for the smaller players. Antiquated tools and processes can increase time to close, potentially increase manual errors, and thereby decreasing efficiency and their profit. ICE Mortgage Technology delivers additional value to customers and the industry and in a differentiated way. We are focused on automating the entire mortgage process from consumer engagement through loan registration and every step and task in between. And we are doing this by offering a single platform that leverages the largest connected network in the industry. As part of ICE, a global data and technology company, we’re able to leverage additional resources backed by ICE’s data services and the New York Stock Exchange. Together, we have the ability to create what we believe is a completely differentiated solution, and truly change the mortgage industry.
HousingWire: What can you tell us about projects that ICE Mortgage Technology is working on for 2022?
Jonas Moe: We recently launched several innovations this fall. Following our Encompass eClose launch in the spring of 2021, it’s a perfect example of how the industry is viewing technology moving forward. Several lenders during the pandemic had to piece together different electronic closing solutions to keep up with the large scale of volume happening. Our eClose solution provides one consistent and seamless borrower experience from connecting with a lender, all the way to eSigning, saving time and money for our lenders along the way. It doesn’t stop there. In October 2021, we announced the expansion of our Encompass eClose solution by including eNote and eVault functionality further streamlining the closing process by offering seamless integration with MERS eRegistry, the national registry record that identifies the holder and custodian of each registered eNote. On top of that, we announced that MERCORP Holdings, Inc., the mortgage industry’s national electronic loan registry has expanded its capabilities to now include industry-wide, secure storage of Remote Online Notarization videos for lenders, investors, and servicers. We’re in the process of automating more for the industry in 2022, so this is just the beginning of providing customers one seamless automated ability. Our vision is to fully automate the entire process and save time and money for our customers.
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