Category Archives: Finance

Altavera Founder Brian Simons joins Maxwell executive team

DENVER, Colo. /ScoopCloud/ -- Digital mortgage leader Maxwell has announced Altavera Mortgage Services founder and former CEO Brian Simons has joined the company as president.

Simons comes to Maxwell with 23 years of experience in the mortgage industry, including capital markets, loan origination and default management. His deep understanding of the mortgage market further heightens Maxwell's capacity to build mortgage software that is tailored to meet the technology needs of its hundreds of small and midsize lender customers.

"We're thrilled to have Brian join the Maxwell team," said John Paasonen, co-founder and CEO of Maxwell. "Brian brings deep expertise in the mortgage industry and experience in organizational development acquired over an impressive career. He will be a huge asset as we enter our next phase of growth and extend our mission to empower lenders to make mortgages simpler and more accessible."

Prior to Maxwell, Brian was the CEO of Credit Risk Solutions at Computershare, which acquired Altavera Mortgage Services, a Denver-based company providing third-party origination, quality control and due diligence services to the mortgage community. Prior to Computershare, Simons founded and built Altavera to be a national service provider that catered to each client's unique outsourcing needs while fostering an environment of diversity and opportunity. Brian's career in the mortgage industry began on Wall Street with Credit Suisse and JPMorgan before becoming a founding executive of Urban Lending Solutions.

"I've spent the last ten years leading operational efficiency in mortgage originations, and it's become clear to me that technology is the key to that efficiency," said Brian Simons. "So many technology providers aim to eliminate humans, but there's nothing more personal than helping someone finance their American Dream. The Maxwell team shares my belief that the crucial benefit of mortgage technology lies in its ability to empower employees to deliver an unparalleled borrower experience. I'm excited to join Maxwell and pursue our common goal to elevate the human relationships at the heart of the mortgage transaction."

Recently named a winner of HW's Tech 100 for the fourth straight year, Maxwell's digital mortgage platform leverages proprietary algorithms built on its network of data across hundreds of thousands of loans to enable lenders to accelerate the mortgage lending process from application to underwriting. This allows lending teams to focus on the human relationship at the center of the mortgage journey. Today, hundreds of lenders across the United States use Maxwell's point-of-sale to originate $5 billion in mortgage loans each month at a cycle time 45 percent faster than the national average.

ABOUT MAXWELL

Maxwell empowers mortgage lenders to be more connected, productive and successful by intelligently automating their workflow with homebuyers and real estate agents. The platform is used by hundreds of mortgage lenders, community banks and credit unions nationwide to serve their homebuyers and real estate agent partners every day. Founded in 2015, Maxwell is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association and a preferred partner of The Mortgage Collaborative. The company is proud to be built in Denver, Colorado.

Connect with Maxwell:
- https://himaxwell.com/
- https://www.facebook.com/maxwellHQ
- https://twitter.com/ilovemaxwell

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Digital mortgage leader Maxwell has announced Altavera Mortgage Services founder and former CEO Brian Simons has joined the company as president. Simons comes to Maxwell with 23 years of experience in the mortgage industry, including capital markets, loan origination and default management.

Related link: https://himaxwell.com/

Innovation Technology Award Goes to OpenClose Loan Origination System

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. /ScoopCloud/ -- OpenClose(R), the industry-leading omni-channel loan origination system (LOS) and digital mortgage fintech provider, announced that it received PROGRESS in Lending Association's 2020 Innovation Award for its "truly game-changing solutions in the mortgage space." The award was given for OpenClose's newly combined end-to-end browser-based LOS, digital mortgage point-of-sale (POS) solution, native product and pricing engine (PPE), businesses intelligence (BI) capabilities, and RESTful API suite.

Award winners were selected by a panel of mortgage technology experts that selected winners based on each innovation's overall industry significance; the innovation's originality; the positive change the innovation made possible; the intangible efficiencies gained as a result of the innovation; and the hard cost and time savings that the innovation enables industry participants to achieve.

"We're ecstatic to be honored with this 2020 Innovation Award," said JP Kelly, president at OpenClose. "As PROGRESS in Lending acknowledged, we were the first to successfully create a single-source, 100 percent browser-based LOS and POS solution. The genesis of this model stemmed from us observing lenders having to deal with too many disparate technologies and vendors in order to automate digital lending processes, which can be prone to compatibility problems and increase cost per loan."

According to its website, PROGRESS in Lending states that while there are a lot of digital mortgage POS vendor offerings offering standalone solutions in the market, OpenClose was the ground-breaking vendor that decided to focus on developing the first truly consolidated digital mortgage POS and end-to-end multi-channel LOS solution offered by a single-source provider along with a native PPE, BI, and RESTful API suite.

We are the only mortgage fintech provider proven to implement a comprehensive, purely browser-based LOS with omni-channel digital lending capability," asserted Vince Furey, CRO at OpenClose. "As with any leader, our competitors are now copying our marketplace positioning, messaging and value proposition, but falling short. The entire team at OpenClose is appreciative of PROGRESS in Lending Association for recognizing our efforts with this award."

A complete list of the 2020 Innovation Award winners can be found on PROGRESS in Lending's website https://mymortgagemindset.com/the-2020-innovations-award-winners-are.

About OpenClose:

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, OpenClose(R) is a leading enterprise-class, omni-channel loan origination system (LOS), POS digital mortgage and fintech provider that cost effectively delivers its digital platform on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. The company provides a variety of innovative, 100 percent browser-based solutions for banks, credit unions, lenders and conduit aggregators. OpenClose's core solution, LenderAssist(TM), is comprehensive loan origination software that is completely engineered by OpenClose using the same code base from the ground up. The company offers a RESTful API suite that standardizes system-to-system integrations, making them easier to develop, quicker to implement and more cost effective. OpenClose provides lending organizations with full control of their data and creates a truly seamless workflow for complete automation and compliance adherence. For more information, visit https://www.openclose.com/ or call (561) 655-6418.

Social Media: @OpenClose_LOS #LoanOriginationSoftware #DigitalMortgagePOS #InnovationAward #PROGRESSinLending

Media Contact:
Joe Bowerbank
Profundity Communications, Inc.
949-378-9685
jbowerbank@profunditymarketing.com

OpenClose the industry-leading omni-channel loan origination system (LOS) and digital mortgage fintech provider, announced that it received PROGRESS in Lending Association's 2020 Innovation Award for its "truly game-changing solutions in the mortgage space."

Related link: https://www.openclose.com/

Bank of Southern California NA Funds More Than $487.8 Million in PPP Loans

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL), a community business bank headquartered in San Diego, announced today that it has funded more than $487.8 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. These results, as of 9:30 p.m. PDT on May 7, 2020, provided 1,940 local businesses affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) with critical financing to retain or restore jobs for 51,523 individuals.

The Paycheck Protection Program provides small businesses with financial resources to maintain their payroll, hire back employees who may have been laid off, and cover applicable overhead. As an SBA Preferred Lender, Bank of Southern California felt a fundamental responsibility to support the business community and offered PPP loans to both customers and non-customers. Through this approach, the Bank was able to help even more businesses obtain funding, resulting in many new banking relationships.

Nathan Rogge, President and CEO of Bank of Southern California said, "Our employees continue to demonstrate their commitment and dedication to the business community-working around the clock to deliver for those in need. I am proud of the impact Bank of Southern California has made in providing vital funds to support small businesses and our local communities. As we look to the future, we will continue to build upon these new relationships and provide long-term value for our clients."

Bank of Southern California is still accepting PPP loan applications for Southern Californian businesses. To apply, visit us online at https://www.banksocal.com.

About Bank of Southern California

A growing community bank, established in 2001, Bank of Southern California, N.A., with headquarters in San Diego, CA, is locally owned and managed, and offers a range of financial products to individuals, professionals and small-to-medium sized businesses. The Bank's solution-driven, relationship-based approach to banking provides accessibility to decision makers and enhances value through strong partnerships with its clients. The Bank currently operates eleven branches in San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the Coachella Valley in Riverside County.

For more information, please visit https://www.banksocal.com/ or call (858) 847-4780.

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Tickers: OTC Pink:BCAL / OTC:BCAL / OTCMKTS:BCAL / OP: BCAL

Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL), a community business bank headquartered in San Diego, announced today that it has funded more than $487.8 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. These results, as of 9:30 p.m. PDT on May 7, 2020, provided 1,940 local businesses affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) with critical financing to retain or restore jobs for 51,523 individuals.

Related link: https://www.banksocal.com/

KROST CPAs & Consultants Provides Much-Needed Help to Businesses Affected by the Economic Downturn Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Los Angeles-based firm, KROST CPAs & Consultants, has launched several programs to assist businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic. Since April 2020, the firm has assisted hundreds of businesses and individuals through the development of COVID-19 resources that have guided them through the process of choosing, applying, and qualifying for emergency loan programs. To date, the firm has helped more than 200 firms and sole proprietors apply for, and receive, more than $150 million in total loans.

KROST hosted two virtual webinars to provide insight into the EIDL and PPP loan programs - who can apply, what the terms of the loans were, how to apply, and how to use the proceeds once they receive funds. Now, the firm has launched the PPP Budgeting and Forgiveness Maximization Tool, a proprietary tool that allows users to plan, budget, and track expenditures on a week-by-week basis. The tool has all the current known rules on forgiveness programmed into it.

Paren Knadjian, who leads the firm's M&A and Capital Markets practice and has a background in debt financing, and as a fractional CFO, has taken the lead on the emergency loan programs. He, along with a team at KROST, developed the PPP tool with KROST clients in mind.

"From day one, we used our role as trusted advisors, to keep our customers informed of the detailed terms of these government-backed loans and helped many of them with the application process. Now that many of them have received the funds, we are guiding them through best practices on the use of proceeds and providing them with a proprietary tool to ensure they optimize loan forgiveness. The next step will be to provide them with the resources necessary, such as accounting and fractional CFO services, to ensure they emerge from business closures with a plan and a budget that maximizes their ability to make an economic recovery," remarked Paren Knadjian.

In addition to the emergency loan forgiveness assistance, the firm also developed a COVID-19 Resource Center as a hub for businesses and individuals to access the latest tax, accounting, and HR news on the Coronavirus. Learn more: https://www.krostcpas.com/covid-19-resource-center

ABOUT KROST CPAS & CONSULTANTS

Established in 1939 in Pasadena, California, KROST is a full-service certified public accounting and consulting firm serving clients across various industries in the areas of tax, accounting, consulting, assurance and advisory, M&A and capital markets, corporate tax incentives, and wealth management.

For more information about KROST, please visit http://www.krostcpas.com/

Los Angeles-based firm, KROST CPAs & Consultants, has launched several programs to assist businesses during the Coronavirus pandemic. Since April 2020, the firm has assisted hundreds of businesses and individuals through the development of COVID-19 resources.

Related link: https://www.krostcpas.com/

Global DMS Integrates eTrac Valuation Management Software with ProxyPics, Allowing Clients to Complete Real Estate Appraisals Remotely

LANSDALE, Pa. /ScoopCloud/ -- Global DMS, a leading provider of cloud-based appraisal management software, announced that it has integrated its eTrac valuation management platform with ProxyPics - a patented, secure mobile app that provides a method of facilitating the delivery of photographs of a subject property when access to the property is unavailable.

Through this integration, lenders, AMCs, and appraisers who utilize eTrac(R) can automatically request and receive high quality pictures of both the interior and exterior of a subject property directly from the homeowner, providing them with an immediate solution for completing their real estate appraisals remotely and within social distancing guidelines.

"Our goal for this integration is to help promote business as usual during these very unusual times," said Global DMS(R) COO, Jody Collup. "With eTrac and ProxyPics, our clients can do just that - providing timely, cost-effective, and accurate values for all loan types without ever leaving their desk."

The entire process is automated, secure, protects against fraud, and requires no additional work or oversight from those using eTrac - who never have to leave the platform. It's also simple for homeowners, who utilize the ProxyPics mobile app to easily take the required photos, answer pre-set questions about the quality, condition, and unique characteristics of their home, and submit the information back to eTrac.

Not only does this promote safe social distancing, it ensures eTrac users have the vital information they need for completing accurate valuations that are in full compliance with the temporary appraisal guidelines that were recently enacted by the GSEs and others in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.

"As COVID-19 continues to prohibit in-person interactions, the use of innovative technologies has become critical in many lines of business, including real estate appraisals," said Luke Tomaszewski, CEO of ProxyPics. "eTrac and ProxyPics provides lenders, AMCs, and appraisers with this innovative technology, allowing them to collect the necessary photos and property information directly from the homeowner without setting foot on the property."

Though it was developed in direct response to COVID-19 and its many restrictions, eTrac's integration with ProxyPics will continue to serve Global DMS' clientele into the future by providing a simple method for securing the primary photos of a subject property as quickly as possible - helping to streamline their appraisal process and decrease turn-times.

For more information, please visit: https://www.globaldms.com/etrac-and-proxypics

About Global DMS:

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Pennsylvania, Global DMS is a leading provider of cloud-based commercial and residential real estate valuation solutions. The company's solution set is cost effectively delivered on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) transactional basis that ensures compliance adherence, reduces costs, increases efficiencies and expedites the entire real estate appraisal process.

Global DMS solutions include its new EVO-Residential(tm) (EVO-Res) platform for residential lending, EVO-Commercial(tm) (EVO-C) platform for commercial lending, eTrac(R) Enterprise valuation management platform for residential lending, SnapVal(tm) appraisal pricing solution, eTrac WebForms, Global Kinex(R), AVMs, the MISMO Appraisal Review System (MARS(R)), ATOM (Appraisal Tracking on Mobile).

For more information, visit https://www.globaldms.com/ or call (877) 866-2747.

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Global DMS, a leading provider of cloud-based appraisal management software, announced that it has integrated its eTrac valuation management platform with ProxyPics - a patented, secure mobile app that provides a method of facilitating the delivery of photographs of a subject property when access to the property is unavailable.

Related link: https://www.globaldms.com/

Andrew Crofton Joins Klingenstein Fields Wealth Advisors as a Managing Director

NEW YORK, N.Y. /ScoopCloud/ -- Klingenstein Fields Wealth Advisors (KFWA), a wealth management firm with approximately $4 billion in assets under management, is pleased to announce that Andrew Crofton has joined the firm as a Managing Director.

In this role, Mr. Crofton will be responsible for advising high-net-worth and institutional clients on a range of wealth, planning and investment management issues, as well as overseeing the growth of the firm's client base.

Mr. Crofton joins the firm from BNY Mellon where he was a Senior Wealth Director advising high-net-worth individuals and families, helping them address complex planning and investment management needs. Prior to that, he held a similar role at U.S. Trust.

Mr. Crofton began his career in institutional fixed income and equity sales and trading. He earned a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

"Andy's significant experience in serving high-net-worth and institutional clients' investment management needs, combined with his institutional securities trading background, gives him a unique perspective that will strongly benefit our clients," said Kenneth D. Pollinger, CEO and Co-Chairman of KFWA. "We look forward to his involvement and the customized guidance that he will provide to our clients."

More information: https://www.klingenstein.com/.

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Klingenstein Fields Wealth Advisors (KFWA), a wealth management firm with approximately $4 billion in assets under management, is pleased to announce that Andrew Crofton has joined the firm as a Managing Director.

Related link: http://www.klingenstein.com

EnergyCAP, Inc. Receives Inc. Magazine ‘Best Workplaces’ Award

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. /ScoopCloud/ -- EnergyCAP, Inc. (ECI) has been named to Inc. Magazine's annual list of the Best Workplaces for 2020 will hit newsstands May 12, and is the result of a wide-ranging and comprehensive measurement of private American companies that have created exceptional workplaces through vibrant cultures, deep employee engagement, and stellar benefits.

ECI, developer of the widely used EnergyCAP(R) utility bill accounting & energy management software, currently employs 62 people at its State College, PA headquarters. The company also has employees in Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas. Organizations across government, education, and commercial sectors count on ECI's flagship product, EnergyCAP, and complementary services for streamlined utility bill processing and auditing, energy and greenhouse gas data tracking & reporting, processing campus and tenant distributions, benchmarking facilities, meeting ENERGY STAR submission requirements, measuring and verifying energy savings, and more.

To determine its award winners, Inc. collected data from more than 3,000 submissions and singled-out 395 finalists. Employees from each nominated company then took part in a survey on topics that included trust, management effectiveness, perks, and confidence in the future. After analyzing and auditing the data, Inc. noted, "The strongest engagement scores came from companies that prioritize the most human elements of work. These companies are leading the way in employee recognition, performance management, and diversity."

ECI's Founder & CEO, Steve Heinz, gratefully accepted the Inc. award, stating, "My thanks to Inc. for official confirmation of what we already knew. EnergyCAP is a great place to work-not because of the facility (although our new corporate headquarters in Boalsburg, PA will be the best office setting in the county), but because of the total package. Study after study has found that the two most important keys to a healthy and satisfying life are quality relationships and meaningful work. Our HR program takes a life coaching approach to developing and nurturing personal and professional relationships, while our 'Top Product' award-winning software makes an important contribution to environmental sustainability and a greener future."

"Building a great corporate culture comes only from strong leadership," says Inc. magazine Editor-In-Chief Scott Omelianuk. "The companies on Inc.'s Best Workplaces list are setting an example that the whole country can learn from, especially now, when company culture is more important to the workforce than ever."

About EnergyCAP

EnergyCAP, Inc., celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2020, has helped more than 10,000 energy managers in government, education, and commercial organizations derive value from their utility bills and energy data. EnergyCAP, Inc. is a multiple year winner of ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year, Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies, and Environmental Leader's Product of the Year. In addition to our award-winning utility bill & energy management software, we provide bill processing, implementation, training, and support services to deliver a comprehensive utility bill accounting and energy management solution. Learn more: https://www.energycap.com/.

About Inc. Media

The world's most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers, and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com/.

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EnergyCAP, Inc. (ECI) has been named to Inc. Magazine's annual list of the Best Workplaces for 2020 will hit newsstands May 12, and is the result of a wide-ranging and comprehensive measurement of private American companies that have created exceptional workplaces through vibrant cultures, deep employee engagement, and stellar benefits.

Related link: https://www.energycap.com/

Top of Mind enhances ‘Client for Life’ Workflow to help lenders retain 2020’s record-breaking influx of refi customers

ATLANTA, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- Top of Mind Networks (Top of Mind), a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation software for the mortgage lending industry, today announced enhancements to its "Client for Life" Workflow. Available to users of SurefireCRM, the Client for Life Workflow helps lenders protect market share by creating over 100 distinct opportunities to stay connected with borrowers over a five-year period.

"Lenders can expect to face fierce competition for a significantly diminished pool of purchase loan applicants in the future. Protecting today's market share - including holding on to a huge wave of recently acquired refi customers - will be a business imperative," said Top of Mind Chief Creative Officer Sherwood Lawrence. "SurefireCRM's Client for Life Workflow makes it effortless for originators to stay 'top of mind' with borrowers by delivering a steady stream of value-adding content through a carefully selected mix of communication channels, which now includes our exclusive Power Calls and Power Messaging features."

The Client for Life workflow leverages multiple communication channels to ensure lender messages resonate with customers no matter their individual communication preferences. For purchase customers, the workflow kicks off with a closing gift delivered to the customer's new home. Over the next 60 months, customers receive a carefully curated mix of high-impact emails, direct-mail marketing, personalized voice recordings powered by Surefire Power Calls and dynamic text messages leveraging Surefire Power Messaging.

Surefire Creative Content has earned a combined 16 gold and platinum trophies from the Hermes Creative Awards and AVA Digital Awards since the beginning of the year. Top of Mind's in-house marketing team leverages decades of marketing and mortgage industry experience to engage customers' curiosity, excitement and sense of humor, creating emotional connections that make a lasting impression. Unique, personalized outreach is generated for each customer based on individual milestones, from birthdays to loan closing anniversaries to refi opportunities. Lenders can customize the Client for Life Workflow by adding links to their own marketing collateral.

To learn more about SurefireCRM's Client for Life Workflow, please visit https://www.topofmind.com/

About Top of Mind Networks:

Founded in 2003, Atlanta-based Top of Mind Networks (https://www.topofmind.com/) started as a bootstrapped direct-mail marketing company. Today, the company is recognized as the mortgage industry's most-relied-upon provider of marketing automation and creative content solutions. From individuals to enterprise lenders, Top of Mind's SurefireCRM helps thousands of mortgage professionals win new business, earn repeat business and deserve referral business. With intuitive, "set it and forget it" workflows and award-winning content, mortgage professionals are able to effortlessly maintain and deepen their emotional connections with clients.

@mortgagecrm @Hermes_Awards @AVA_Awards #Powercalls #PowerMessaging #ClientforLife #creativematters #mortgagemarketing

Top of Mind Networks (Top of Mind), a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation software for the mortgage lending industry, today announced enhancements to its "Client for Life" Workflow. Available to users of SurefireCRM, the Client for Life Workflow helps lenders protect market share by creating over 100 distinct opportunities to stay connected with borrowers over a five-year period.

Related link: https://www.topofmind.com/

Bank of Southern California, N.A. Announces Q1 2020 Results and Response to Pandemic

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL) today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020. Total assets increased to $852 million at March 31, 2020, up from $830 million in the prior quarter and an increase of 10.8% compared to March 31, 2019. Total loans increased to $683 million and total deposits increased to $689 million from $629 million and $636 million, respectively, at March 31, 2019. Net income for the quarter ended March 31, 2020, was $1.91 million, compared to $1.64 million in Q4 2019 and $1.85 million in Q1 2019.

First Quarter 2020 Highlights
* Q1 2020 on track as Bank responds to pandemic
* Reorganization into Southern California Bancorp approved by shareholders
* CalWest Bancorp acquisition closing in Q2, pending shareholder approval

Nathan Rogge, President and CEO of Bank of Southern California said, "While we are pleased with our first quarter results, we are more focused on the current environment and supporting small businesses and communities impacted by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) while remaining financially strong and positioning for growth." The Banks' focus on small business is reflected in first quarter results in C&I lending, which is up 19% in outstandings compared to the first quarter of the prior year, and also in undisbursed C&I commitments, which increased 25% during the same period. Non-interest bearing demand deposits, another reflection of our small business focus, have increased 26% compared to the first quarter of 2019.

"As we navigate these unique times, we remain committed to executing upon our strategic plan and supporting Southern California's business community. Most recently, we were able to assist customers and non-customers in obtaining critical funding in response to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). By the end of the first round, we helped over 900 local businesses secure PPP loans, thus providing over 35,000 jobs" concluded Rogge. The Bank also remains focused on our strategic merger with CalWest Bank, which will provide an expanded branch presence covering Orange County and the Inland Empire and well as operational synergies so we may better serve the business community.

John Farkash, Chairman of the Board said, "Aside from the solid first quarter results, I am proud of the impact our Bank has made in supporting small businesses and helping to restore our local economies. We look forward to growing our relationships with these new businesses as we look ahead and recover from this pandemic."

Additional Financial Highlights and Response to the Pandemic
With the onset of the world-wide coronavirus pandemic in the middle of March, Bank of Southern California has been taking measures to closely monitor its loan portfolio, operations, liquidity and capital resources while actively working to minimize the current and future impact of this unprecedented situation. While the full impact of the pandemic is not known at this time, the following highlights pertinent information in the Bank's response.
* Operations - While all branch offices remain operational, for the safety of our employees and customers, our branch offices have reduced hours and we highly encourage drive-through, where available, remote banking, and internet banking. We have installed protective shields at service areas and social distancing protocols have been implemented.
* Capital resources - The Bank closed a private placement of common stock in December 2019 in connection with its pending acquisition of CALWest Bancorp. The Bank's capital ratios at March 31, 2020 - 12.5% tier 1 leverage ratio and 16.5% total risk-based capital - are considered very strong and the Bank will remain "well-capitalized" after closing the pending merger.
* Liquidity - The Bank has sufficient liquidity resources to meet its customer's needs. In addition to balance sheet liquidity of over 10% of assets, the Bank has access to liquidity facilities from other banks, including the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, at which the Bank has over $100 million available borrowing capacity at March 31, 2020.
* Loan Portfolio - While nonperforming loans continue to be low as of March 31, 2020, which is consistent with prior quarters, the Bank has been working to assist its credit customers and minimize the Bank's exposure to potential loss given the current environment. Following is certain information and actions which have been taken regarding the Bank's credit portfolio.
o Risk Portfolio - The Bank's exposure to certain high-risk industries follows:

Industry	Balance	Number
Hospitality (hotel/motel)	$17,400,000	5
Restaurant and food service	15,000,000	33
Oil and Gas	0	0
Total	$32,400,000	38

o Since the end of March, the Bank has been actively engaging with its customers to maintain relationships and provide a bridge to economic recovery. The Bank has worked with the SBA to secure payment relief for dozens of SBA loan customers. Furthermore, the Bank has received and is granting numerous deferment requests for 3 to 6-month periods to assist borrowers during the economic slowdown.
* The CARES Act Payroll Protection Program ("PPP") - The Bank's focused efforts on assisting small businesses with obtaining PPP loans resulted in over 900 loans approved by the SBA for over $350 million and related loan fees of over $9 million (to be accreted over the term of the loan). This extraordinary effort has secured existing customers and created strong goodwill with new customers and in the community as the Bank continues to support small business during the second round of PPP, which is currently underway.

[Quarterly Financial Highlights Table Follows]

More details about our quarterly results are available on our website and through the following link to our most recent quarterly results and trends: https://www.banksocal.com/about-us/financials.

About Bank of Southern California
A growing community bank, established in 2001, Bank of Southern California, N.A., with headquarters in San Diego, CA, is locally owned and managed, and offers a range of financial products to individuals, professionals and small-to-medium sized businesses. The Bank's solution-driven, relationship-based approach to banking provides accessibility to decision makers and enhances value through strong partnerships with its clients. The Bank currently operates eleven branches in San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the Coachella Valley in Riverside County, as well as a production office in West Los Angeles. For more information, please visit https://www.banksocal.com/ or call (858) 847-4780.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release may contain comments or information that constitute forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995) and Bank of Southern California intends for such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of that Act. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate," or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "would," "should," "could," or "may." Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, nor should they be relied upon as representing management's views as of any subsequent date. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from those presented, in this news release. Factors that might cause such differences include, but are not limited to: the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) on the economy and the Bank; the ability of the Bank to successfully execute its business plan; changes in interest rates and interest rate relationships; changes in demand for products and services; changes in banking legislation or regulation; trends in customer behavior as well as their ability to repay loans; and changes in the national and local economy.
Bank of Southern California undertakes no obligation to update or clarify forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Contact: Amanda Conover
Bank of Southern California
aconover@banksocal.com
858.847.4762

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Tickers: OTC Pink:BCAL / OTC:BCAL / OTCMKTS:BCAL / OP: BCAL / OTC:CALW

Bank of Southern California Quarterly Financial Highlights (Unaudited)
		Quarterly					1st Qtr Prior Years
($$ in thousands except per share data)		2020	2019	2019	2019	2019	2018	2017
		1st Qtr	4th Qtr	3rd Qtr	2nd Qtr	1st Qtr	1st Qtr	1st Qtr
EARNINGS
Net interest income	$	7,985	7,736	7,795	7,625	7,698	4,851	3,919
Provision for loan losses	$	300	200	300	200	300	300	169
NonInterest income	$	747	321	695	519	420	1,098	404
NonInterest expense	$	5,694	5,512	5,711	5,705	5,198	4,053	2,972
Income tax expense	$	827	709	763	667	771	524	472
Net income	$	1,911	1,636	1,716	1,572	1,849	1,072	710

Basic earnings per share	$	0.20	0.19	0.20	0.19	0.22	0.20	0.14
Average shares outstanding		9,408,940	8,578,102	8,410,522	8,410,522	8,409,272	5,281,297	5,140,497
Ending shares outstanding		9,412,690	9,405,190	8,410,522	8,410,522	8,410,522	6,953,720	5,140,497

PERFORMANCE RATIOS
Return on average assets		0.90%	0.79%	0.87%	0.82%	0.99%	0.90%	0.67%
Return on average common equity		6.30%	5.93%	6.37%	6.02%	7.30%	8.53%	6.37%
Yield on loans		5.32%	5.23%	5.44%	5.59%	5.66%	5.13%	4.89%
Yield on earning assets		4.76%	4.88%	5.21%	5.24%	5.36%	4.78%	4.27%
Cost of deposits		0.78%	0.88%	0.99%	0.98%	0.96%	0.53%	0.34%
Net interest margin		3.98%	4.01%	4.24%	4.28%	4.41%	4.27%	3.95%
Efficiency ratio		65.21%	68.42%	67.26%	70.05%	64.03%	68.13%	68.75%

CAPITAL
Tangible equity to tangible assets		12.48%	12.58%	10.83%	11.62%	11.29%	14.14%	10.24%
Book value (BV) per common share	$	13.00	12.81	12.77	12.56	12.30	10.79	8.83
Tangible BV per common share	$	11.05	10.85	10.56	10.34	10.07	10.59	8.54

ASSET QUALITY
Net loan charge-offs (recoveries)	$	(11)	(11)	36	(9)	(7)	(9)	(54)
Allowance for loan losses (ALLL)	$	5,674	5,363	5,153	4,888	4,679	3,385	3,143
ALLL to total loans		0.83%	0.79%	0.75%	0.78%	0.74%	0.83%	0.90%
Loan fair value credit marks (LFVCM)	$	1,649	1,906	2,030	2,249	2,479	759	1,311
ALLL and LFVCM to total loans		1.07%	1.07%	1.05%	1.14%	1.14%	1.01%	1.28%
Nonperforming loans	$	1,433	1,911	2,225	2,033	3,298	1,272	2,040
Other real estate owned	$	0	0	0	0	0	0	146
Nonperforming assets to total assets		0.17%	0.23%	0.27%	0.27%	0.43%	0.24%	0.51%

END OF PERIOD BALANCES
Total loans	$	683,195	676,655	684,717	623,424	628,538	409,196	349,348
Total assets	$	852,052	830,186	839,060	766,730	768,823	522,118	430,334
Deposits	$	688,946	671,914	692,899	632,246	635,676	444,300	382,991
Loans to deposits		99.17%	100.71%	98.82%	98.60%	98.88%	92.10%	91.22%
Shareholders' equity	$	122,377	120,523	107,400	105,619	103,481	75,016	45,367
Full-time equivalent employees		92	97	96	100	96	73	65

AVERAGE BALANCES (QTRLY) \| \| (YTD)
Total loans	$	676,825	678,015	664,946	623,541	629,799	403,693	332,308
Earning assets	$	803,804	766,012	730,165	714,889	707,920	460,636	402,698
Total assets (net of AFS valuation)	$	855,397	818,989	783,043	766,960	755,842	484,628	426,831
Deposits	$	696,341	671,443	641,867	633,478	628,950	425,641	379,957
Shareholders' equity	$	121,773	109,464	106,853	104,745	102,707	50,983	45,175

Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL) today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2020. Total assets increased to $852 million at March 31, 2020, up from $830 million in the prior quarter and an increase of 10.8% compared to March 31, 2019.

Related link: https://www.banksocal.com/

Certain Lending Launches Major Survey of Real Estate Investors

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Certain Lending released a national survey of real estate investors. A majority of real estate investors expect COVID-19 will cause home prices to decline up to 20%.

The survey of 569 real estate investors across the U.S., conducted between April 20 and 24, is the first of its kind to report how real estate investors believe COVID-19 will impact the U.S. economy, housing markets, and mortgage credit. The full survey is available at https://medium.com/certainlending.

"Non-institutional real estate investors own and make a living from $7 trillion of real estate. They are an untapped source of insight about how events and forces shape the U.S. economy and housing market," said Shreyas Vijaykumar, cofounder and chief technology officer for Certain Lending. "We are excited to engage the community and report insightful findings about COVID-19's expected impacts."

The survey finds that relative to the 2009 recession, known as the U.S. housing crisis, half of real estate investors believe the impact of COVID-19 will be more severe for the U.S. national economy. Three quarters of real estate investors expect COVID-19 will cause home prices to decline, but the magnitude will be less severe than during the U.S. housing crisis. A majority expect home prices will decline up to 20% because of COVID-19.

According to the survey, approximately half of real estate investors expect it will be a good time to buy properties over the next six months with about as many planning to increase their personal investment in real estate over the time period. 90% of real estate investors believe the U.S. economy will rebound within 18 months.

With the weak economy and real estate cooling, a majority of real estate investors expect supply to increase across online realtor listings, off market channels, short sales, foreclosures, and distressed-property auction websites.

The survey finds 38% of real estate investors think it will be harder to get a loan, and 32% don't know if financing will be easier or harder in the next six months.

Added Charles McKinney, cofounder and chief executive officer of Certain, "With anxiety about the economy, freezing of the capital markets, and many commercial lenders pulling back, traditional ways of getting a loan has become more expensive and less likely. For lenders with the credit sophistication and software to efficiently underwrite and originate loans in the COVID-19 economy, there's a huge opportunity to consolidate market share."

About Certain Lending:

Certain Lending is a FinTech startup cofounded by Freddie Mac and Palantir Technologies alumni and backed by Founders Fund, 8VC, Goldcrest, XYZ, Village Global, and the LeFrak organization. With Certain Lending, real estate investors get tailored financing offers in one place and close loans in days, not weeks. For financial institutions, Certain creates favorable yield from business purpose mortgages fully underwritten, originated, and monitored by our software.

For more information about the company, visit https://www.certainlending.com/.

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Certain Lending released a national survey of real estate investors. A majority of real estate investors expect COVID-19 will cause home prices to decline up to 20%. The survey of 569 real estate investors across the U.S., conducted between April 20 and 24, is the first of its kind.

Related link: https://www.certainlending.com/

IDS Expands eClosing Platform to Include eNotes, Rebrands as Solitude Solution

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah /ScoopCloud/ -- Mortgage document preparation vendor International Document Services, Inc. (IDS), announced it has expanded the capabilities of its eClose platform to include eNotes. Recently branded as Solitude Solution, the platform's eClosing capabilities allow lenders and borrowers to execute loans digitally.

"IDS has always taken pride in our ability to anticipate our clients' needs, and our response to their urgent need for eClosing and eMortgage technology in the current climate has been no different," said IDS Vice President and General Manager Mark Mackey. "Our customers are already familiar with our easy-to-use eSign platform, and with our eNote capabilities, customers have the ability to digitally deliver a mortgage. As the mortgage industry strives to continue offering borrowers the ability to move forward in the loan process throughout these troubled times, IDS is proud to be part of the solution."

Solitude Solution offers midnight automation capabilities, allowing documents to be sent to the borrowers early for review and automatically become active for eSign on the closing date. Additionally, Solitude Solution is built to deliver documents to the appropriate parties, ensuring that borrowers and settlement agents only see the documents they are required to acknowledge, sign, or review.

The platform also includes access to IDS' user-friendly eSign Room, where document signers can review their documents, find the appropriate highlighted signature line and click to sign. The eSign Room also allows borrowers or settlement agents who prefer to ink sign the note to print, ink sign and upload the completed documents into the eSign Room, enabling lenders to maintain digitally-driven loan origination and closing processes.

"With so many variances regarding digital mortgage acceptance across investors, state regulators and other levels, flexibility is a crucial element to any digital mortgage platform," Mackey added. "Solitude Solution was built to ensure that lenders have the latitude to execute their loans as digitally as possible so that they may reap the benefits of a digitally-driven process and provide consistent, reliable service to their borrowers and closing partners."

About IDS, Inc.

IDS, a Reynolds and Reynolds company, was founded in 1986 in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is a nationwide provider of mortgage documents and compliance. IDS services include eSignatures, closing documents, initial disclosures, document fulfillment and integration with leading loan origination systems and eClosing platforms. The IDS flagship doc prep solution, idsDoc, is recognized in the industry for its ability to be customized to meet specific lender needs, particularly in regard to major industry compliance changes. Learn more: https://info.idsdoc.com/.

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Mortgage document preparation vendor International Document Services, Inc. (IDS), announced it has expanded the capabilities of its eClose platform to include eNotes. Recently branded as Solitude Solution, the platform's eClosing capabilities allow lenders and borrowers to execute loans digitally.

Related link: https://info.idsdoc.com/

Paragon Insurance Holdings Acquires Trident Public Risk Solutions from Argo Group

NEW YORK, N.Y. /ScoopCloud/ -- Paragon Insurance Holdings, LLC, headquartered in Avon, Connecticut, a national MGA, announced today that it has closed on the purchase of Trident Public Risk Solutions (TPRS). Acquired from Argo Group (Argo), the transaction positions Paragon as one of the largest providers of commercial insurance coverage for public entities in the U.S. As part of the transaction agreement, Trident's business will continue to benefit from Argo policy and claims services.

"I am excited to work with the Paragon team, growing this great business and delivering tremendous value to our public entity customers," said Timothy Carter, Executive Vice President.

"We are excited to have Trident as part of our portfolio of companies and to be growing our business with Argo Group. Their collective expertise in public entity insurance and risk management will create a great partnership as we continue to grow together," said Ron Ganiats, CEO and co-founder of Paragon.

The business will continue to report to Sue Coates, President of TPRS - Guaranteed Cost Division and John Atherton, President of TPRS - Retained Limits.

ABOUT ARGO GROUP INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS, LTD.

Argo Group International Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE: ARGO), is an underwriter of specialty insurance and reinsurance products in the property and casualty market. Argo Group offers a full line of products and services designed to meet the unique coverage and claims-handling needs of businesses in two primary segments: U.S. Operations and International Operations. Argo Group's insurance subsidiaries are A.M. Best-rated "A-" (Excellent), and Argo Group's U.S. insurance subsidiaries are Standard and Poor's-rated "A-" (Strong). More information on Argo Group and its subsidiaries is available at https://www.argolimited.com/.

ABOUT PARAGON

Paragon Insurance Holdings, LLC, is headquartered in Avon, Connecticut, and operates as a national MGA. Formed in 2014, the company writes all commercial lines of insurance across more than twenty insurance programs. Paragon's industry-specific and general underwriting facilities offer insureds, retail agents, carriers, reinsurers and service providers unique product, service, capability, and results. Please visit https://www.paragoninsgroup.com/ for additional information.

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Tickers: NYSE:ARGO / NY: ARGO

Paragon Insurance Holdings, LLC, headquartered in Avon, Connecticut, a national MGA, announced today that it has closed on the purchase of Trident Public Risk Solutions (TPRS). Acquired from Argo Group (Argo), the transaction positions Paragon as one of the largest providers of commercial insurance coverage for public entities in the U.S.

Related link: https://www.paragoninsgroup.com/

Bank of Southern California, NA and CalWest Bancorp, the Holding Company for CalWest Bank, Announce Changes to Merger Agreement

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL) and CalWest Bancorp (OTCBB: CALW), today announced that they have renegotiated the terms of their merger and have agreed to amend the initial Definitive Agreement announced on October 21, 2019 following shareholder meetings held on April 22, 2020.

The economic effects of COVID-19 prompted Bank of Southern California's shareholders to pause and adjourn their voting to pursue an amended merger agreement. According to the terms of the amended agreement, BCAL's all-cash offer is now $0.35 per CALW share compared to the initial Definitive Agreement which offered $0.43 per share. The amendment to the initial Definitive Agreement is expected to be presented to shareholders in mid-May with an expected close on May 29, 2020 pending all regulatory approvals.

About Bank of Southern California

A growing community bank, established in 2001, Bank of Southern California, N.A., with headquarters in San Diego, California, is locally owned and managed, and offers a range of financial products to individuals, professionals and small-to-medium sized businesses. The Bank's solution-driven, relationship-based approach to banking provides accessibility to decision makers and enhances value through strong partnerships with its clients. The Bank currently operates eleven branches in San Diego County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, and the Coachella Valley in Riverside County. For more information, please visit https://www.banksocal.com or call (858) 847-4780.

About CalWest Bancorp

CalWest Bancorp is the holding company of CalWest Bank, a community bank recognized for its exemplary service to entrepreneurs, high net worth individuals and non-profit organizations located throughout Southern California. The Bank serves the business community through its four branches located in Rancho Santa Margarita, Irvine, Huntington Beach and Redlands. For more information, please visit https://calwestbancorp.com/ or call 949.766.3006.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain comments or information that constitute forward‐looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995), and Bank of Southern California and CalWest Bancorp intend for such forward‐looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions of that Act. These include statements as to the anticipated benefits of the merger, including future financial and operating results, cost savings and enhanced revenues that may be realized from the merger as well as other statements of expectations regarding the merger and any other statements regarding future results or expectations.

Forward‐looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. They often include the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "estimate," or words of similar meaning, or future or conditional verbs, such as "will," "would," "should," "could," or "may." Forward‐looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, nor should they be relied upon as representing management's views as of any subsequent date. Future events are difficult to predict. Forward‐looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially from those presented, either expressed or implied, in this news release. Factors which could have a material effect on the operations and future prospects of each of Bank of Southern California and CalWest Bancorp and the resulting company, include but are not limited to: the businesses of Bank of Southern California and/or CalWest Bancorp may not be integrated successfully or such integration may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; expected revenue synergies and cost savings from the merger may not be fully realized or realized within the expected time frame; revenues following the merger may be lower than expected; customer and employee relationships and business operations may be disrupted by the merger; the ability to obtain required regulatory and shareholder approvals, and the ability to complete the merger on the expected timeframe may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; the ability of the Bank of Southern California to successfully execute its business plan; changes in interest rates and interest rate relationships; changes in demand for products and services; the degree of competition by traditional and non‐traditional competitors; changes in banking legislation or regulation; changes in tax laws; changes in prices, levies, and assessments; the impact of technological advances; the outcomes of contingencies; trends in customer behavior as well as their ability to repay loans; and changes in the national and local economy. Bank of Southern California undertakes no obligation to update or clarify forward‐looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Additional Information About the Merger

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities or a solicitation of any vote for approval of the merger. In connection with the proposed merger a joint proxy statement was provided to the shareholders of both institutions which provided detailed information about the merger and the two institutions. Shareholders are encouraged to read the joint proxy statement carefully before voting on the merger. The directors, executive officers, and certain other members of management and employees of Bank of Southern California and CalWest Bancorp may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of votes to approve the merger. Additional information regarding the interests of those participants and other persons who may be deemed participants in the merger may be obtained by reading the joint proxy statement.

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Tickers: OTC Pink:BCAL / OTC:BCAL / OTCMKTS:BCAL / OP: BCAL / OTC:CALW

Bank of Southern California, N.A. (OTC Pink: BCAL) and CalWest Bancorp (OTCBB: CALW), today announced that they have renegotiated the terms of their merger and have agreed to amend the initial Definitive Agreement announced on October 21, 2019 following shareholder meetings held on April 22, 2020.

Related link: https://www.banksocal.com/

Vanbridge Releases Second Comprehensive Review of US Representations and Warranties Insurance Market

NEW YORK, N.Y. /ScoopCloud/ -- Vanbridge, an EPIC company, an insurance intermediary and program management firm, published its second edition of its U.S. Representations and Warranties Insurance (R&W) Market Review today. This edition evaluates and summarizes domestic R&W data for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019.

This report aims to provide, as accurately as possible, the state of the U.S. R&W market using data gathered directly from insurers. The scope of the report focuses on the submission and placement process in the market, analyzing the size of the marketplace, pricing and trends.

"Representations & Warranties insurance has become a staple in M&A transactions and a proliferating business for insurance markets. We continue to conduct our annual reviews of the overall marketplace to benefit carriers, clients and M&A practitioners alike," said Greylen Erlacher Mardy, Principal of Vanbridge.

"We've found that despite the current trends, carriers remain dedicated to offering meaningful coverage that facilitates transactions, while underwriting the insurance in a sustainable manner," continued Erlacher Mardy.

The report includes insight on several areas:
* Submission Volume and Deals Bound
* Primary & Excess Limits, Retentions and Pricing
* Claims and Future Underwriting Considerations
* Market Trends and Perceptions

About the Report

The vast majority of markets that wrote business in 2017, 2018 and 2019 including the largest players in the space, provided their data for the report. Based on estimates, this captured roughly 90% of all transaction data. As part of the data collection process, Vanbridge engaged an independent, non-insurance third party data management firm, Excel Rain Man, to receive and assist in sorting and analyzing each participating carrier's information on a confidential basis.

For a complete copy of Vanbridge's U.S. Representations and Warranties Insurance Market Review, click here (PDF): https://info.vanbridge.com/hubfs/Vanbridge/Vanbridge%20Reps%20and%20Warranties%20Market%20Review%20fnl4.22v2.pdf

About Vanbridge

Vanbridge is an insurance intermediary and program management firm. Vanbridge focuses on alternative asset management, corporate and individual high net worth clients, solving risk related issues utilizing insurance and alternative capital. Vanbridge is owned by EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants and is headquartered in New York, N.Y.

Learn more at: https://www.vanbridge.com/.

About EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants

EPIC is a unique and innovative retail property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm. EPIC has created a values-based, client-focused culture that attracts and retains top talent, fosters employee satisfaction and loyalty and sustains a high level of customer service excellence.

EPIC team members have consistently recognized their company as a "Best Place to Work" in multiple regions and as a "Best Place to Work in the Insurance Industry" nationally.

EPIC now has more than 2,600 team members operating from 85 offices across the U.S., providing Property and Casualty, Employee Benefits, Specialty Programs and Private Client solutions to EPIC clients.

With run rate revenues greater than $730 million, EPIC ranks among the top 15 retail insurance brokers in the U.S. Backed and sponsored by Oak Hill Capital Partners, the company continues to expand organically and through strategic acquisitions across the country.

For additional information, please visit https://www.epicbrokers.com/.

Vanbridge, an EPIC company, an insurance intermediary and program management firm, published its second edition of its U.S. Representations and Warranties Insurance (R&W) Market Review today. This edition evaluates and summarizes domestic R&W data for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Related link: https://www.epicbrokers.com/

ARMCO Launches ACES Consumer™ Quality Management Platform for Financial Institutions

DENVER, Colo. /ScoopCloud/ -- ACES Risk Management (ARMCO), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the lending industry, announced the official release of ACES Consumer, the next iteration of its ACES Audit Technology(TM) platform designed specifically for financial institutions. The new solution provides both consumer banks and credit unions with a single platform to improve loan quality and gain valuable insights across all consumer lending channels.

"Traditionally, financial institutions have taken a siloed approach to quality control in lending. As a result, organizations may have a different process or platform for managing loan quality in each of their consumer product lines, thereby duplicating efforts and increasing the cost to comply," ARMCO CEO Trevor Gauthier said. "As the leader in quality control audit software for the mortgage industry, ARMCO has amassed a wealth of knowledge on best practices for managing QC and compliance, which we have leveraged in the development of ACES Consumer to provide all financial institutions with a single platform capable of ensuring loan quality and mitigating risk across their entire enterprise."

ACES Consumer is a web-based, user-definable platform that enables financial institutions to easily configure audits across their entire consumer lending portfolio to help reduce audit times by up to 40% and eliminate manual processes. Backed by a dedicated Client Success team, the platform includes automated loan sampling functionality, advanced reporting and dashboarding capabilities and a secure communication portal to streamline the quality control process.

ACES Consumer also uses pre-built questionnaires to ensure compliance with federal consumer regulations covering, but not limited to:
* Consumer direct and indirect lending;
* Truth in Lending Act (TILA);
* Loan applications;
* Branch audits;
* New deposit open end credit;
* Consumer loan servicing;
* Consumer leasing;
* Marketing; and
* Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).

"Many financial institutions have been forced to rely on spreadsheets, email and manual processes to power their quality control audits. As organizations grow, these methods quickly become inadequate to the task, which exponentially increases the number of manhours required to complete this mission-critical function. Furthermore, these methods are ill-suited to a remote work environment, as they add unneeded complexity to the process and create multiple opportunities for data to become lost or corrupted," Gauthier said.

"With ACES Consumer, financial institutions can harness the power of web-based automation to streamline the quality control process, thereby ensuring that they have a scalable process in place for managing loan quality and mitigating risk, regardless of their operational circumstances."

For more information, visit https://www.armco.us/products/aces-consumer.

About ARMCO

ACES Risk Management (ARMCO) is the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry. More than half of the top 25 mortgage lenders, a third of the top 150 lenders and servicers and two of the top five U.S. commercial banks rely on ACES Audit Technology(TM) to improve audit throughput and quality, while controlling costs. Unlike other quality control platforms, only ACES delivers Flexible Audit Technology, which gives independent mortgage lenders and financial institutions the ability to easily manage and customize ACES to meet their business needs without having to rely on IT or other outside resources. Using a customer-centric approach, ARMCO clients get responsive support and access to our experts to maximize their investment. For more information, visit www.armco.us or call 1-800-858-1598.

ACES Risk Management (ARMCO), the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the lending industry, announced the official release of ACES Consumer, the next iteration of its ACES Audit Technology platform designed specifically for financial institutions.

Related link: https://www.armco.us/

FormFree and Ocrolus Partner for Comprehensive Borrower Income Verification Program

ATHENS, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- FormFree(R), a leading fintech provider of credit decisioning services, today announced a partnership with Ocrolus, a leading fintech infrastructure company that transforms documents into actionable data with over 99% accuracy. FormFree's Passport(tm) all-in-one asset, employment and income verification service now includes API calls to Ocrolus for paystub and W-2 tax form collection and data verification.

Each day, Passport helps tens of thousands of loan originators assess the ability of loan applicants to repay loans. FormFree's partnership with Ocrolus enables Passport to ingest data from paystubs submitted in PDF or cell phone photo format. Passport can also pull income data directly from payroll providers with a consumer's permission.

"Income verification is a critical factor in assessing a borrower's ability to repay a loan," said FormFree CEO Brent Chandler. "Enabling lenders to corroborate images of paystubs against digital data sources allows them to make credit decisions with a high level of confidence."

As Ocrolus digitizes data from submitted paystubs and W-2 documents, Passport corroborates that data against public and proprietary sources to validate that the stated employer is a real company with whom the loan applicant has a verifiable connection. Next, the program compares the paystub data against consumer asset data to calculate annual net pay and gross income. The verified asset, income and employment data points are then instantaneously pushed to the lender systems such as point-of-sale (POS) platforms, loan origination software (LOS) and automated underwriting systems (AUS).

"We developed Ocrolus to analyze documents of any format or quality with over 99% accuracy," said Sam Bobley, CEO of Ocrolus. "FormFree is a leading fintech that we are proud to partner with; incorporating our capabilities within Passport provides lenders with precisely accurate data for financial decisioning."

Paystub and W-2 document submissions are currently supported and available to FormFree customers. Ocrolus and FormFree are also developing integrations for additional financial documents including bank statements.

About Ocrolus:

Ocrolus is a fintech infrastructure company that transforms documents into actionable data with over 99% accuracy. Powered by artificial intelligence and a unique, human-in-the-loop data validation process, Ocrolus plugs directly into customer workflows via API, eliminating the need for manual data work. The solution includes built-in fraud detection and analytics, enabling customers to make smarter and faster business decisions with unprecedented scalability and precision.

Use cases include mortgage, small business, auto and personal loan underwriting, credit account openings and other document-intensive processes. Ocrolus has raised over $30 million in venture capital backed by Oak HC/FT, FinTech Collective, Bullpen Capital and QED Investors, among others. Visit https://www.ocrolus.com/ to learn more.

About FormFree:

FormFree is a market-leading fintech company whose revolutionary products AccountChek and Passport are changing the credit decisioning landscape and encouraging lenders nationwide to incorporate a more holistic view of each borrower's financial DNA. To date, thousands of U.S. lenders and brokers have ordered millions of FormFree's patented verification reports representing over a trillion dollars in loan verifications. FormFree delights borrowers and lenders with a paperless experience, reduces origination timelines by up to 20 days and offers automated analysis and standardized delivery to lenders and investors using a secure ReIssueKey(tm). For more information, visit https://www.formfree.com/ or follow FormFree on LinkedIn.

FormFree, a leading fintech provider of credit decisioning services, today announced a partnership with Ocrolus, a leading fintech infrastructure company that transforms documents into actionable data with over 99% accuracy.

Related link: https://www.formfree.com/

SimpleNexus app breezes past 2 million borrower downloads as more consumers and loan originators adapt to mobile mortgage origination

LEHI, Utah /ScoopCloud/ -- SimpleNexus (https://simplenexus.com/), developer of the leading digital mortgage platform for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents, today announced that more than two million consumers have downloaded its award-winning mobile app. The milestone marks a 53.8% increase in consumer downloads of the SimpleNexus app since the beginning of the year.

With 42 out of 50 U.S. states responding to the COVID-19 pandemic by issuing stay-at-home orders, more consumers than ever are seeking tools that allow them to collaborate with real estate agents and mortgage originators without meeting face-to-face.

SimpleNexus, which earned global recognition last month as Fintech Breakthrough's 'Best Digital Mortgage Platform' of 2020, serves as a common hub where borrowers, real estate agents and mortgage originators can collaborate on loan applications, upload documents and share real-time status updates. To date, SimpleNexus has connected 2,040,724 consumers with more than 24,000 active loan originators and 98,000 real estate agents nationwide.

"SimpleNexus is dead simple to use. It gives borrowers both the latitude to work independently and immediate access to expert guidance when it's needed," said SimpleNexus Founder and CEO Matt Hansen. "The combination of ease-of-use and transparency is resonating strongly with originators and loan applicants alike in this time of economic uncertainty and personal upheaval. We are delighted to see this level of market enthusiasm for SimpleNexus and are responding by doubling down on our commitment to ongoing product enhancement."

About SimpleNexus, LLC:

SimpleNexus is the digital mortgage platform that enables lenders to originate and process loans from anywhere. The company's best-in-class, easy-to-use app connects loan officers to their borrowers and real estate agents to easily communicate and exchange data in a single location throughout the entire loan life cycle. Loan officers can manage their loan pipelines, order credit, run pricing, send pre-approvals and sign disclosures - all on the go.

SimpleNexus, developer of the leading digital mortgage platform for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents, today announced that more than two million consumers have downloaded its award-winning mobile app.

Related link: https://simplenexus.com/

New Technology Connects Homeowners and Property Appraisers

RED DEER, Alberta /ScoopCloud/ -- Everyone has been economically impacted by COVID-19 in one way or another and property appraisers are no exception. However, Anow, an appraisal management software developer, is excited to announce the launch of Anow Walkthrough, a sophisticated, but straightforward homeowner inspection product designed to help appraisers when they can't get inside a property. It enables true "virtual tours" with multiple fraud preventions built-in and empowers appraisers to work again.

Anow simplifies the way real estate appraisers manage their businesses and was recently recognized by Housing Wire in their TECH100 list for 2020. It streamlines a wide range of everyday appraisal processes while offering unmatched business insights that help appraisers to better compete in today's digital environment.

And now, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, with global limitations on social interaction and contact, carrying out walkthroughs to appraise properties is a significant challenge. Anow's innovative solution is this complementary product: Anow Walkthrough.

"Since the pandemic started, we've only done exterior inspections and are avoiding going into all properties," Mark Matkowski, Soderquist Appraisals, says. "Anow Walkthrough has been a game-changer. It gives us everything we need to confidently do full appraisals, puts no one at risk and keeps my income up too."

Anow Walkthrough offers a step-by-step guide for homeowners and realtors to capture photos and necessary information pertaining to property interiors and exteriors. It also allows homeowners to share unique home details without needing to download an app. It's simple and convenient. Multiple rules are in place, including date, time and geolocation of photographs, plus public records and artificial intelligence validates homeowner data and photos.

For appraisers, they can collect compliant information remotely and safely, mainly because they come in contact with clients daily during inspections. Appraisers can walk a homeowner through the process, or they can do it on their own time.

"The possibilities are endless, and appraisers will continue to adopt Walkthrough, even after the COVID-19 crisis, as a value-added service," Marty Haldane, CEO, Anow, says.

Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) and lenders are seeing many benefits too. They're already empowering their network of appraisers to keep appraising during these challenging times.

"We wanted to not just empathize with our customers, but provide a solution to this complex challenge," Haldane says. "Everyday, more restrictions are being put into place, and we want to ensure that appraisers can still appraise and make a living. Walkthrough has been used on thousands of appraisals and AMCs and lenders have also been prompted to jump on board to help their appraiser panels. The response we've received from appraisers, lenders and AMCs has been absolutely overwhelming, and it just shows how we are all in this together to help each other out. It's really great to see."

Existing Anow customers will receive a free upgrade of the Anow platform to include Anow Walkthrough. New customers will receive access to Anow Walkthrough along with a complimentary one-on-one guide on how best to use the Anow platform for their appraisal business.

To learn more: https://anow.com/walkthrough/

About Anow

Launched in 2011 by multi-generational appraisal professional Marty Haldane, Anow is designed for today's digital environment. It has robust order tracking, job assignment, collaboration and scheduling tools that allow appraisers and administrative staff to save time, assign appraisals more efficiently and deliver exceptional service to clients and mortgage lenders from any web-enabled device. Advanced reporting enables business owners to manage fee competition and turn times with ease.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Ikenna Okoroafor
Growth and Marketing at ANOW
ikenna@anow.com

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veryone has been economically impacted by COVID-19 in one way or another and property appraisers are no exception. However, Anow, an appraisal management software developer, is excited to announce the launch of Anow Walkthrough a sophisticated, but straightforward homeowner inspection product.

Related link: https://anow.com/

LBA Ware Issues Q1 2020 LO Compensation Report

MACON, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- LBA Ware(TM), a leading provider of incentive compensation management (ICM) and business intelligence software solutions for the mortgage industry, today released summary statistics on the state of mortgage industry compensation in the first quarter of 2020. The firm's analysis of data from its CompenSafe(TM) ICM platform shows business grew significantly for lenders across Q1, culminating in March commission payouts that were the highest reported in the last six months.

Methodology

LBA Ware reviewed account data for mortgage lenders that used CompenSafe to automate incentive compensation management throughout the first quarter of 2020. The controlled, sample dataset consisted of retail, first-lien production from LOs who funded at least six loans during the six-month period ending March 31, 2020.

Key Findings

* The total number of loan units funded by the sample group increased by 58.5% from January to March. Over the same time period, total loan volume increased by 66.1%, which translated to an increase in average loan volume per LO from $1.17M in January to $1.85M in March. The portion of funded loan volume attributable to refinances reached 48% in March, an increase of 6% from January.

* Together, these unit and volume gains led to month-over-month increases in loan commissions earned of 14.2% from January to February and 46.9% from February to March.

* Overall, average commissions paid to LOs increased 1.1% from 104.0 basis points in January to 105.1 basis points in March. Broken out by loan purpose, LO commissions on refinances increased 3.1% (from 96.0 basis points in January to 99.0 basis points in March) compared to just 0.9% growth in purchase commissions (from 109.0 basis points in January to 110.1 basis points in March).

* The average March loan amount was $283,900, up from 2019's average of $259,652, helping LOs reach an average of $18,907 in total commissions for the month.

"Intense market demand for mortgages, including refis, helped loan originators earn average commissions approaching $19,000 in March," said LBA Ware founder and CEO Lori Brewer. "LOs may want to sock some of that payday away as the industry braces for a protracted economic recession, job losses and stiffer underwriting criteria."

About LBA Ware

LBA Ware(TM) is a leading provider of cloud-based software for mortgage lenders. Since 2008, LBA Ware has been on a mission to help mortgage companies reach new heights with software that integrates data, incentivizes performance and inspires results. Today, lenders of all sizes, including some of the nation's top producing mortgage companies, use LBA Ware's award-winning technology to enhance lender experiences and maximize the human potential within their organizations. A 2019 Inc. 5000 fastest-growing private company, LBA Ware is headquartered in Macon, Georgia. For more information, visit https://www.lbaware.com/.

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LBA Ware, a leading provider of incentive compensation management (ICM) and business intelligence software solutions for the mortgage industry, today released summary statistics on the state of mortgage industry compensation in the first quarter of 2020.

Related link: https://go.lbaware.com/

Top of Mind Launches PartnerNetwork Offering Lenders and Referral Partners a Simple Solution for Managing RESPA Compliance and Co-Branded Marketing Collateral

ATLANTA, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- Top of Mind Networks (Top of Mind), a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation software for the mortgage lending industry, today announced it has launched PartnerNetwork, a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) solution that makes it easy for lenders and referral partners to co-brand marketing collateral with control and confidence.

RESPA's guidelines, which prohibit lenders and real estate partners from receiving any "thing of value" in exchange for referrals, challenge lenders' ability to co-brand marketing material in an operationally pragmatic and compliant manner.

Lenders have typically responded by (1) eliminating co-branding initiatives altogether, thereby weakening marketing relationships in the name of risk mitigation; (2) fully leveraging marketing relationships and assuming the risk of co-branding missteps as a necessary cost of doing business; or (3) shouldering the substantial burden of calculating and recovering the value of each co-branded campaign from marketing partners. PartnerNetwork eliminates the need for mortgage lenders to choose between strong marketing relationships, regulatory compliance and operational ease by providing a simple, comprehensive solution for managing all co-branded marketing content.

Top of Mind has created the Surefire PartnerNetwork to enable digital value sharing of co-branded assets in the SurefireCRM platform. Lenders can control originators' ability to co-brand with marketing partners based on their approach to RESPA compliance and can easily identify partner participants in their database. Marketing partners do not have to repeat the registration process to co-brand with additional lender partners.

"We're very excited to offer a platform solution that allows our clients to manage RESPA compliance with control and confidence, not only for print marketing, but for digital marketing as well," said Top of Mind Co-founder and Chief Product Officer David Orsini. "This opens doors to new relationship-building opportunities for lenders who have been avoiding co-branding because of the complexity of RESPA compliance."

For more information about PartnerNetwork, please visit https://pages.topofmind.com/demo-partner-network.

About Top of Mind Networks:

Founded in 2003, Atlanta-based Top of Mind Networks (https://www.topofmind.com) started as a bootstrapped direct-mail marketing company. Today, the company is recognized as the mortgage industry's most-relied-upon provider of marketing automation and creative content solutions. From individuals to enterprise lenders, Top of Mind's SurefireCRM helps thousands of mortgage professionals win new business, earn repeat business and deserve referral business. With intuitive, "set it and forget it" workflows and award-winning content, mortgage professionals are able to effortlessly maintain and deepen their emotional connections with clients.

Top of Mind Networks (Top of Mind), a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation software for the mortgage lending industry, today announced it has launched PartnerNetwork, a Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) solution that makes it easy for lenders and referral partners to co-brand marketing collateral with control and confidence.

Related link: https://www.topofmind.com/

Global DMS Receives Innovations Award from PROGRESS in Lending for EVO Appraisal Management Software

LANSDALE, Pa. /ScoopCloud/ -- Global DMS, a leading provider of cloud-based appraisal management software, announced that it has been selected by PROGRESS in Lending for its "Innovations Award," which recognizes companies that have come together to create something truly game-changing for the mortgage space.

As part of its selection process, PROGRESS in Lending scored each applicant's innovation on a weighted scale, looking at its overall industry significance, originality, the positive change it made possible, the intangible efficiencies it now allows, and the hard cost and time savings it enables industry participants to achieve.

Global DMS(R) was recognized for the successful development and roll-out of EVO-Res(TM) - the industry's next-generation appraisal management technology for residential lenders, AMCs, and appraisers. Unlike other platforms on the market, EVO-Res offers state-of-the-art technological advances that shatter the constraints of yesteryear software designs by allowing users to work the way they need to work.

EVO-Res was built with the end-user in mind to provide a customized experience that's roll-based, which includes separate dashboards and task lists to help drive optimal performance. The platform is also 100% configurable down to the field level, allowing clients to tailor all aspects of the software and its functionality to their exact needs in real-time - no development intervention needed.

EVO-Res' numerous features-including its digital forms, custom reporting, and robust appraisal reviews-combined with its powerful workflow automation mean users no longer have to operate additional modules or other software in conjunction with their appraisal management software - thus achieving a streamlined process that saves time and money.

"Through its ease-of-use, configurable design, and unique automation capabilities, EVO-Res provides a significant boost in efficiency through every phase of the appraisal process," said Global DMS COO, Jody Collup. "Global DMS is proud to be recognized for this effort by PROGRESS in Lending and will continue to push the boundaries on appraisal management technology, as we've done for 21 years."

For the complete list of PROGRESS in Lending's Innovations Award winners, please visit: https://mymortgagemindset.com/the-2020-innovations-award-winners-are/

About Global DMS:

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in Pennsylvania, Global DMS is a leading provider of cloud-based commercial and residential real estate valuation solutions. The company's solution set is cost effectively delivered on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) transactional basis that ensures compliance adherence, reduces costs, increases efficiencies and expedites the entire real estate appraisal process.

Global DMS solutions include its new EVO-Residential(TM) (EVO-Res) platform for residential lending, EVO-Commercial(TM) (EVO-C) platform for commercial lending, eTrac(R) Enterprise valuation management platform for residential lending, SnapVal(TM) appraisal pricing solution, eTrac WebForms, Global Kinex(R), AVMs, the MISMO Appraisal Review System (MARS(R)), ATOM (Appraisal Tracking on Mobile).

For more information, visit https://www.globaldms.com/ or call (877) 866-2747.

Global DMS, a leading provider of cloud-based appraisal management software, announced that it has been selected by PROGRESS in Lending for its "Innovations Award," which recognizes companies that have come together to create something truly game-changing for the mortgage space.

Related link: https://www.globaldms.com/

Nationwide Equities Taps ReverseVision Private Program Support to Launch ‘EquityPower’ Private Reverse Mortgage Program

SAN DIEGO, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- ReverseVision, the leading provider of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and private reverse mortgage sales and origination technology, today announced that Nationwide Equities Corporation (Nationwide Equities) has leveraged ReverseVision's private product support to launch its own private reverse mortgage program, EquityPower.

Nationwide Equities, a top-reverse mortgage lender that also originates forward conventional loans, developed EquityPower to grow their reverse line of business and provide customers with more dynamic options for tapping home equity.

"EquityPower offers senior consumers who have high home values, own a condominium or otherwise don't fit the HECM mold a means to access their home equity on flexible terms best suited to their stage in life," said Nationwide Equities CEO Paul Lamparillo.

"We have a saying here that no good loan should ever hit the wastebasket," added Nationwide Equities President Glenn Wallace. "That's why we offer so many financial products. We are dedicated to helping qualified consumers find the right solution for their homeownership and financial goals."

ReverseVision introduced private program support - a combination of enhanced software functionality and professional services - to help lenders bring private reverse mortgage programs to market in the fall of 2018. Once lenders design a private reverse mortgage program, ReverseVision will enable it and associated documents into the ReverseVision platform. Lenders may change certain settings, such as program names and lender margins, and can perform more complex adjustments with the help of a private product support specialist. Nationwide Equities reports that it took ReverseVision approximately six weeks to configure EquityPower within its platform.

"Nationwide Equities recognizes that every senior borrower's financial aspirations and homeownership needs can't fit into the HECM, HELOC or conventional forward mortgage buckets," said ReverseVision Vice President of Sales and Marketing Wendy Peel. "Nationwide has always been market savvy and we commend them for developing solutions for underserved senior homeowners, who collectively hold $7 trillion in home equity."

EquityPower is a fixed-rate product that enables borrowers with homes valued at up to $10 million dollars to access their home equity beginning at age 60. Other features that differentiate it from a HECM include lower closing costs and no mortgage insurance requirements. Nationwide Equities offers EquityPower through both its retail and wholesale channels.

About ReverseVision

ReverseVision, Inc. is the leading Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and private reverse mortgage sales and origination technology platform, supporting more reverse mortgage transactions than all other systems combined. The company's comprehensive product suite flexes to lenders' unique business and operational models, connecting all lending participants across the entire reverse mortgage lifecycle to meet borrowers where they are in life. A five-time HousingWire TECH100(TM) company, ReverseVision continues to build on its technology's pioneering capabilities with frequent enhancements.

For more information, visit https://www.reversevision.com/.

About Nationwide Equities

Nationwide Equities is a top-ten reverse mortgage lender with a footprint across 24 states in the U.S. We are also one of the few select lenders that offer their own private reverse mortgage product. By developing individualized financial solutions for the unique needs of each retail branch, wholesale partner, and loan officer, we have built a business model unparalleled in the industry. By developing a strategic alliance with a proven industry leader, you will gain access to a host of benefits and services that make running your business more efficient, but most importantly, more profitable! When you partner with Nationwide Equities, you receive the Best in Price, the Best in Product, and the Best in Service!

ReverseVision, the leading provider of Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) and private reverse mortgage sales and origination technology, today announced that Nationwide Equities Corporation (Nationwide Equities) has leveraged ReverseVision's private product support to launch its own private reverse mortgage program, EquityPower.

Related link: https://www.reversevision.com/

SimpleNexus Appoints Decorated SaaS Sales Executive Cathleen Schreiner Gates to Board of Directors

LEHI, Utah /ScoopCloud/ -- SimpleNexus (https://simplenexus.com/), developer of the leading digital mortgage platform for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents, today announced the election of senior sales executive Cathleen Schreiner Gates to its board of directors.

Schreiner Gates has been driving accelerated growth at early stage and global software-as-a-service (SaaS) organizations for 35 years. From 2015 to 2019, she served as EVP of sales and marketing at cloud-based mortgage finance technology provider Ellie Mae (NYSE: ELLI). During her tenure, Ellie Mae spent six consecutive years on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and negotiated a $3.7-billion purchase by private-equity firm Thoma Bravo. Schreiner Gates is CEO of independent consulting firm Trifecta, which she founded in 2009.

"Cathleen's experience helping innovative companies establish leadership positions in their markets makes her an indispensable addition to SimpleNexus' board of directors," said SimpleNexus President and COO Ben Miller. "She brings with her a trove of invaluable operational insights that will play an important role in SimpleNexus' ability to deliver increased value to our partners."

"SimpleNexus has established itself as a forward-thinking digital mortgage firm whose innovations are catapulting technology advancements across the mortgage industry," said Schreiner Gates. "I look forward to helping the success of a company that is changing the future of lending."

Schreiner Gates' accomplishments in the mortgage industry have been recognized by HousingWire magazine, which honored her with its Vanguard and Women of Influence awards, and by Mortgage Professional America, which named her an Elite Woman in Mortgage. She has also been recognized by the Sales Lead Management Association as one of '20 Women Leaders in Business.' Schreiner Gates holds a master's degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and computer technology from Rutgers University.

About SimpleNexus, LLC:

SimpleNexus is the digital mortgage platform that enables lenders to originate and process loans from anywhere. The company's best-in-class, easy-to-use app connects loan officers to their borrowers and real estate agents to easily communicate and exchange data in a single location throughout the entire loan life cycle. Loan officers can manage their loan pipelines, order credit, run pricing, send pre-approvals and sign disclosures - all on the go.

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*Photo caption: Cathleen Schreiner Gates.

Twitter: @SimpleNexus #digitalmortgage #peoplemovers #boardappointments

SimpleNexus, developer of the leading digital mortgage platform for loan officers, borrowers and real estate agents, today announced the election of senior sales executive Cathleen Schreiner Gates to its board of directors.

Related link: https://simplenexus.com/

EPIC Insurance Brokers and Consultants Launches Restructuring Services Offering

NEW YORK, N.Y. /ScoopCloud/ -- EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, a retail property and casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, announced today that the firm has launched a Restructuring Services operation under its Financial Services division to support the restructuring process for distressed situations with risk mitigation and risk transfer insurance capital solutions.

Led by Executive Vice President, Philip V. Moyles, Jr., head of Financial Services, the group will work with restructuring, legal, accounting and bankruptcy professionals as well as turnaround investors, to improve liquidity, preserve the business enterprise and develop and implement programs that address the issues adversely impacting financial performance.

EPIC's Restructuring Services risk mitigation advisory process begins by cultivating an in-depth understanding of the objectives and business imperatives for each restructuring situation. After a thorough holistic analysis, EPIC develops the strategy and solution set best suited to mitigate and/or transfer risks and protect enterprise value.

"It is a pivotal time in our economy, and we've kept our focus on how we can create value for our clients in this very difficult environment. We realized we can play a valuable role across the entire restructuring lifecycle," said Moyles. "Launching EPIC's Restructuring Services capabilities under the Financial Services division was a strategic decision. Our unique interdisciplinary team has the depth and breadth of experience to comprehensively assess and clearly identify the areas of risk and opportunities to drive business enterprise preservation," continued Moyles.

About EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants

EPIC is a unique and innovative retail property and casualty and employee benefits insurance brokerage and consulting firm. EPIC has created a values-based, client-focused culture that attracts and retains top talent, fosters employee satisfaction and loyalty and sustains a high level of customer service excellence.

EPIC team members have consistently recognized their company as a "Best Place to Work" in multiple regions and as a "Best Place to Work in the Insurance Industry" nationally.

EPIC now has more than 2,600 team members operating from 85 offices across the U.S., providing Property and Casualty, Employee Benefits, Specialty Programs and Private Client solutions to EPIC clients.

With run rate revenues greater than $730 million, EPIC ranks among the top 15 retail insurance brokers in the U.S. Backed and sponsored by Oak Hill Capital Partners, the company continues to expand organically and through strategic acquisitions across the country.

For additional information, please visit https://www.epicbrokers.com/.

EPIC Insurance Brokers & Consultants, a retail property and casualty insurance brokerage and employee benefits consultant, announced today that the firm has launched a Restructuring Services operation under its Financial Services division to support the restructuring process for distressed situations with risk mitigation and risk transfer insurance capital solutions.

Related link: https://www.epicbrokers.com/

MQMR Adds Mortgage-Focused Social Media Monitoring Platform

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Mortgage Quality Management and Research, LLC (MQMR) announced today that it has added ActiveComply, a social media monitoring platform, to its suite of audit, risk and compliance-focused solutions for financial institutions and independent mortgage lenders.

The platform, which is offered through a partnership agreement with the platform's developer and namesake, provides lenders with the ability and agility to proactively manage, monitor and extend their companies' social media reach while maintaining compliance with financial marketing and records retention regulations.

"Social media has become a ubiquitous component of today's marketing strategies for loan officers and mortgage companies, so much so that lenders need more comprehensive tools for monitoring social media compliance than simply 'the eyeball test,'" said MQMR President Michael Steer. "Because MQMR's compliance team has conducted thousands of marketing compliance reviews, which include social media content, we are keenly aware of the challenge lenders face in this regard, and by providing an automated solution for monitoring, we are not only expanding our clients' compliance coverage, but also providing them with valuable peace of mind."

The ActiveComply platform can be configured to reflect the user's unique corporate social media policy specifications and offers a simple user interface and one-touch executive reporting capabilities, as well as notifications sent to a company's in-house compliance team with flagged content for review. Available functionality includes but is not limited to: discovery and continuous monitoring of company and loan officer social media accounts and websites, detection of unauthorized online activity, identification of missing compliance requirements and archival of online contents to meet regulatory record retention requirements.

For more information or to schedule a demo with MQMR, visit https://www.mqmresearch.com/services/social-media-compliance-marketing/.

About Mortgage Quality Management and Research, LLC

MQMR helps its clients climb higher by bridging the gap between risk and compliance through its suite of risk-related services. MQMR provides mortgage compliance consulting throughout the origination process, conducting internal audit risk assessments and ongoing internal audit support, servicing QC and subservicing oversight to master servicers, and filling the void of meeting vendor management oversight requirements. With 2,000+ operational reviews of mortgage companies, subservicers, document custodians, and vendors annually, MQMR prides itself on being the mortgage industry partner of choice for audit, risk and compliance. To learn more, visit mqmresearch.com, subsequentqc.com, and hqvendormanagement.com.

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Mortgage Quality Management and Research, LLC (MQMR) announced today that it has added ActiveComply, a social media monitoring platform, to its suite of audit, risk and compliance-focused solutions for financial institutions and independent mortgage lenders.

Related link: https://www.mqmresearch.com/

Tapcheck and PRO Resources Inc. Partner to Bring More U.S. Companies Early Wage Access

TARZANA, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Financial solutions company, Tapcheck, has announced its latest partnership with PRO Resources - a multi-state Professional Employer Group with over 30 years of experience.

PRO Resources is always searching for innovative ways to evolve its service offerings and add value to its employer groups. Mike Brodsho, CEO, of PRO Resources, says, "Tapcheck's benefit was appealing to us because it's highly impactful for employees, it does not increase the employer's cost, it's easily deployable across multiple states, and it seamlessly integrates with our core HR and Payroll software."

Tapcheck works with professional employer groups and payroll providers across the country to bring employees immediate access to their earned wages. Once a business enrolls with Tapcheck and shares its payroll/time tracking information, employees can sign up to request earnings through the Tapcheck mobile app. Access to on-demand wages offers employees more financial flexibility, which is designed to particularly help the many American Workers (78%) who live paycheck to paycheck.

"Tapcheck gives employees the freedom to pay bills on time, avoid non-sufficient funds fees, reduce the need for high-interest payday loans, and access money between paydays," says Susie Kendall, President at Tapcheck.

Together, the partnership between the Tapcheck and PRO Resources will bring this financial wellness benefit to more employers and employees across the multiple U.S. states PRO Resources operates in. The aim is to help employers attract more job seekers, improve employee retention, and create a happier workforce while giving employees more financial flexibility to improve their overall state of wellness

"The world is always changing and we believe bringing continuous development is key to serving our customers," says Susie Kendall of Tapcheck.

PRO Resources Inc.
Home Office:
1271 Hwy 10 W
Detroit Lakes, MN 56501

Tapcheck Inc.
18757 Burbank Blvd. Ste. 109
Tarzana, CA 91356

About Tapcheck

Tapcheck, established in 2018, is the provider of a financial wellness benefit that grants employees early wage access through a digital platform. The service enables greater financial flexibility for employees while offering employers a no-cost benefit to improve productivity, enrich company culture and drive employee retention. Learn more: https://www.tapcheck.com/

About PRO Resources Inc.

PRO Resources Corporation is a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), established in 1991, that designs and implements human resource solutions for clients in small and mid-sized markets.

We work shoulder-to-shoulder with our clients to develop creative solutions that increase productivity, improve the focus on core operations and maximize the return on their human capital investment.

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Financial solutions company, Tapcheck, has announced its latest partnership with PRO Resources - a multi-state Professional Employer Group with over 30 years of experience.

Related link: https://www.tapcheck.com/

Remote Online Notarization Taking Hold in Florida, NotaryCam Reports

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- NotaryCam(R), the pioneering leader in online notarization and original provider of mortgage eClosing solutions, announced it has observed a significant increase in remote online notarization (RON) adoption and utilization for real estate transactions in Florida over the past three months. Since January 1, which is the date Florida's RON law went into effect, the company has experienced a 100% month-over-month increase in RON closings.

"With such a high concentration of property transactions being executed by out-of-state residents, Florida represents a great use case for RON," said NotaryCam Founder and CEO Rick Triola. "Our volume of Florida RON closings is doubling almost every other day, and we have signed hundreds of new partners in the past three months. We're thankful that Florida real estate professionals have embraced RON quickly and whole-heartedly to enable their clients' transactions to proceed faster and smoother than ever before."

According to the Florida Realtors(R) association, international buyers accounted for 36,400 of all existing home sales in the state between August 2018 and July 2019, which represents $16 billion in volume. The association also estimates that the vacation/rental-home business accounted for $27.4 billion in sales within the state in 2018. In addition, Florida also has four out of the top 10 cities on the U.S. News & World Report "Best Places to Retire" list for 202), including Fort Myers at No. 1, Sarasota and No. 2, Port St. Lucie at No. 5 and Jacksonville at No. 6.

For Florida-based real estate closing attorney and NotaryCam client Jordan Lulich of Lulich Attorneys and Consultants, the availability of user-friendly technology has made RON a popular option with clients across all demographics.

"We have started offering digital real estate closings to Florida sellers and buyers. I thought this would only be popular among younger clients. However, to my surprise, even older clients have been able to successfully complete the closings through NotaryCam," Lulich said. "The technological support and guidance that is offered is really top notch, and I have only heard positive feedback from the real estate agents and clients that I work with. We continue to push all of our clients to close digitally as it makes the process easier for everyone."

"I have been part of many closings where I've had clients close in other states or areas, but never live," said Robenson Juste, a broker associate at EXP Realty and based in Indian River County, Fla., which includes Vero Beach. "Mr. Lulich was able to do an online closing with the seller. This process with Mr. Lulich was very smooth and effortless. It created a unique digital experience where we all shared the joy together even though we were all in different places, creating one happy seller experience."

"I have had on two different occasions clients who were not able to attend the in-person closings at our office," said Michael Salazar, a Miami-based broker with Luxury Property Realty. "Rather than stress about ensuring the mobile notary would be able to accommodate a mail away closing, we scheduled an online closing through NotaryCam. I was nervous at first because I can be old school in terms of having in-person closings. However, to my surprise, the process was so smooth, and even my elderly clients seemed to enjoy it. Now, whenever we get the chance, I always try to do an online closing because I enjoyed it so much"

Additionally, according to Lulich, the increase in RON activity was especially pronounced during March and into April with in-state buyers and sellers due to concerns and regulations surrounding COVID-19.

"For the past six months, I have been passionately talking about RON closings only to be faced with skepticism and reluctancy," Lulich explained. "However, now clients, customers and vendors are flocking to have their closings completed digitally. RON closings will be extremely useful and more popular in the coming weeks in light of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' stay-at-home order issued on April 1."

On March 18, U.S. Senators Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) introduced Senate Bill 3533, also known as the SECURE Notarization Act, which would legalize RON nationwide. The bill was introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has prompted several states and municipalities to issue "shelter-in-place" or "stay-at-home" orders and individuals to practice social distancing in an effort to slow the spread of the disease. In addition, many states have also issued temporary RON provisions to address the challenges of conducting in-person notarization transactions during the pandemic.

"Given the current climate, in-person closings simply are not an option for the foreseeable future," Triola added. "As Florida has demonstrated, the ability to conduct real estate closings remotely is critical to preventing this sector from grinding to a complete halt. NotaryCam applauds all efforts to make RON an option in all 50 states."

About NotaryCam

After pioneering the world's first multi-party/multi-state remote online notarization (RON), career real estate executive Rick Triola founded NotaryCam and completed the first mortgage remote online closing (ROC) in 2014. Today, NotaryCam is the leader in online notarization and mortgage eClosing solutions, having notarized documents worldwide for hundreds of thousands of customers in all 50 states and more than 146 countries. The company's patented eClose360(R) platform delivers the "perfect" online mortgage closing in every jurisdiction and supports all eClosing scenarios - RON, IPEN or Hybrids - with a flexible workflow for document recording and unparalleled identity verification, security and customer convenience. NotaryCam also proudly maintains an industry-leading 99.8 percent customer satisfaction rating.

Visit https://www.notarycam.com for additional information or to get a document notarized today.

NotaryCam, the pioneering leader in online notarization and original provider of mortgage eClosing solutions, announced it has observed a significant increase in remote online notarization (RON) adoption and utilization for real estate transactions in Florida over the past three months.

Related link: https://www.notarycam.com/

HousingWire Honors OpenClose as a 2020 Mortgage Tech100 Innovator

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. /ScoopCloud/ -- OpenClose(R), the leading mortgage fintech provider and omni-channel loan origination system (LOS), announced that due to its industry-pioneering technology innovations, successful launches and the resulting stellar lender outcomes, the company was named to the prestigious HousingWire 2020 Mortgage Tech 100 List.

OpenClose made the list because of their multiple advances in its single-source digital lending solution that consolidates robust front-end borrower/LO-facing digital mortgage POS technology with an omni-channel, fully browser-based, end-to-end LOS which also offers an embedded product and pricing engine (PPE) and BI/analytics capability. In addition, OpenClose developed a flexible RESTful API suite, IntegrationAssist(TM), that enables the company to more easily and cost effectively integrate with disparate systems.

The enhanced OpenClose platform cuts the cost to manufacture loans, eliminates multiple systems, delivers newfound efficiencies, optimizes origination and operations, streamlines workflows and enhances the consumer experience. More specifically, lenders benefited by OpenClose reducing the number of FTEs and external development costs lenders needed by up to 43 percent along with lowering the processing and underwriting cycle times from seven days to an astounding two hours.

"The winners of the 2020 HousingWire Tech100 Mortgage and Real Estate awards are truly the most impactful and innovative companies in housing. Not only do these companies empower their clients and users, they are supporting a more efficient, accessible and sustainable housing economy," said HousingWire CEO, Clayton Collins.

"At OpenClose, we're always innovating, enhancing our solution set and arriving at new ways to help our lender customers be as successful as possible," said JP Kelly, president of OpenClose. "Our entire organization is honored to have been selected as a HW 2020 Mortgage Tech100 award, which is a direct reflection our employees' hard work, passion and immense dedication to serving OpenClose customers."

HousingWire states that the goal of the Tech100 program is to provide housing professionals with a definitive list of the most innovative and impactful companies that can be leveraged to identify partners and solutions to the problems that mortgage lenders and real estate professionals face every day. In response to the expanding solutions landscape and HousingWire's diverse audience, this year the Tech100 program was divided into the HW Tech100 Mortgage and the HW Tech100 Real Estate.

"This year's Tech100 winners blew past innovation, moving beyond innovation to transformation," HousingWire Associate Magazine Editor Kelsey Ramírez said. "In both the real estate and mortgage sectors, fintech companies continue to create new ways to approach the housing process, improving efficiencies, cutting costs and creating a new experience for all parties involved."

About OpenClose:

Founded in 1999 and headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida, OpenClose(R) is a leading enterprise-class, multi-channel loan origination system (LOS), POS digital mortgage and fintech provider that cost effectively delivers its digital platform on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) basis. The company provides a variety of innovative, 100 percent web-based solutions for lenders, banks, credit unions, and conduit aggregators. OpenClose's core solution, LenderAssist(TM), is comprehensive loan origination software that is completely engineered by OpenClose using the same code base from the ground up.

The company offers a RESTful API suite that standardizes system-to-system integrations, making them easier to develop, quicker to implement and more cost effective. OpenClose provides lending organizations with full control of their data and creates a truly seamless workflow for complete automation and compliance adherence. For more information, visit https://www.openclose.com/ or call (561) 655-6418.

About HousingWire:

HousingWire is the most influential source of news and information for the U.S. mortgage and housing markets. Built on a foundation of independent and original journalism, HousingWire reaches over 60,000 newsletter subscribers daily and over 7.5 million unique visitors each year. Our audience of mortgage, real estate, financial services and fintech professionals rely on us to Move Markets Forward. Visit www.housingwire.com or www.solutions.housingwire.com to learn more.

Social Media: @OpenClose_LOS @HousingWire #OpenClose #HousingWireMortgageTech100 #LoanOriginationSoftware #MortgageFintechSoftware

Media Contact:
Joe Bowerbank
Profundity Communications, Inc.
949-378-9685
jbowerbank@profunditymarketing.com

OpenClose, the leading mortgage fintech provider and omni-channel loan origination system (LOS), announced that due to its industry-pioneering technology innovations, successful launches and the resulting stellar lender outcomes, the company was named to the prestigious HousingWire 2020 Mortgage Tech 100 List.

Related link: https://www.openclose.com/

NotaryCam CEO Rick Triola Named ‘Tech All-Star’ by Mortgage Bankers Association for Second Time in His Career

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- NotaryCam(R), the pioneering leader in online notarization and original provider of mortgage eClosing solutions, announced that its founder and CEO Rick Triola is one of the five mortgage technology innovators honored by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) as a 2020 Tech All-Star. In its 19th year, the award "celebrates industry leaders who have made outstanding contributions in mortgage technology."

"This year's Tech All-Star award winners represent the best of the best," said Rick Hill, MBA's Vice President of Technology and Executive Vice President of MISMO. "The mortgage industry in recent years has become a proving ground of innovative technology benefiting the industry and consumers. In an increasingly competitive technology space, these innovators stand out."

Triola is a two-time Tech All-Star award winner, having also earned the honor in 2017 for NotaryCam's eClose360 platform. This year, Triola was recognized for his work in driving industry adoption of remote online notarization (RON) and remote online closings (ROC). Thanks to his educational efforts and grassroots advocacy for RON throughout the country, nearly half of all U.S. states will have a permanent RON law in effect by the end of 2020. Many of these states have simply opted to adopt the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts (RULONA) developed by the Uniform Law Commission - an effort in which Triola was heavily involved.

Due to current events related to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, emergency RON authorizations are being passed in states that did not previously have RON laws on their books, and there is also a bill pending in the U.S. Senate - the Securing and Enabling Commerce Using Remote and Electronic (SECURE) Notarization Act of 2020 - to allow RON nationwide.

"Since founding NotaryCam in 2012, I have striven not only to offer NotaryCam clients the best and most comprehensive RON platform available, but also to stay ahead of the curve on innovation and lead the charge on adoption," stated Triola. "While emergency legislation relating to a pandemic isn't how we wanted those benefits to become known, I hope that NotaryCam can provide a beacon of light right now for states as they issue immediate emergency measures to authorize RON, as well as later on should federal efforts also succeed."

About NotaryCam

After pioneering the world's first multi-party/multi-state remote online notarization (RON), career real estate executive Rick Triola founded NotaryCam and completed the first mortgage remote online closing (ROC) in 2014. Today, NotaryCam is the leader in online notarization and mortgage eClosing solutions, having notarized documents worldwide for hundreds of thousands of customers in all 50 states and more than 146 countries. The company's patented eClose360(R) platform delivers the "perfect" online mortgage closing in every jurisdiction and supports all eClosing scenarios - RON, IPEN or Hybrids - with a flexible workflow for document recording and unparalleled identity verification, security and customer convenience. NotaryCam also proudly maintains an industry-leading 99.8 percent customer satisfaction rating.

Visit https://www.notarycam.com for additional information or to get a document notarized today.

NotaryCam, the pioneering leader in online notarization and original provider of mortgage eClosing solutions, announced that its founder and CEO Rick Triola is one of the five mortgage technology innovators honored by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) as a 2020 Tech All-Star.

Related link: https://www.notarycam.com/

MQMR Promotes Mabel Lee to Head of Warehouse Due Diligence, Adds Scott Weintraub to Lead Internal Audit Department

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Mortgage Quality Management and Research, LLC (MQMR) announced today that it has promoted Mabel Lee to Warehouse Due Diligence Manager and hired Scott Weintraub as Internal Audit Manager.

"One of the main reasons mortgage lenders turn to MQMR to help them address their audit, risk and compliance needs is the depth of knowledge our team possesses," said MQMR President Michael Steer. "MQMR is privileged to have two highly skilled professionals in Mabel Lee and Scott Weintraub on our team to help guide our clients through these challenging times and bridge the gap between risk and compliance."

As Warehouse Due Diligence Manager, Lee oversees MQMR's skilled team of operations risk managers, who perform due diligence reviews and special projects. Lee first joined MQMR as Internal Audit Manager in June 2018, bringing more than 30 years of experience in risk management, credit, quality control, underwriting and project standards.

Lee previously served as a Customer Account Risk Manager, Credit Risk Manager and Quality Control Manager at Fannie Mae and as a Customer Performance Analysis Supervisor and Senior Mortgage Analyst for Freddie Mac. She holds an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from Claremont Graduate University and a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from San Francisco State University.

Having served as Chief Compliance Officer for several large mortgage lenders in both retail and wholesale mortgage lending channels, Weintraub possesses more than 20 years of experience in legal and regulatory compliance, internal audit management and organizational risk management. In his role as Internal Audit Manager, he oversees a team of experienced internal auditors, whose mission is to assist mortgage lending clients by identifying areas of operational and compliance risk.

Weintraub is a sought-after speaker and thought leader and has appeared on panels at several industry conferences, including the MBA's Regulatory Compliance and Secondary Market conferences. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from George Washington University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Stanford University.

About Mortgage Quality Management and Research, LLC

MQMR helps its clients climb higher by bridging the gap between risk and compliance through its suite of risk-related services. MQMR provides mortgage compliance consulting throughout the origination process, conducting internal audit risk assessments and ongoing internal audit support, servicing QC and subservicing oversight to master servicers, and filling the void of meeting vendor management oversight requirements. With 2,000+ operational reviews of mortgage companies, subservicers, document custodians, and vendors annually, MQMR prides itself on being the mortgage industry partner of choice for audit, risk and compliance. To learn more, visit mqmresearch.com, subsequentqc.com, and hqvendormanagement.com.

Mortgage Quality Management and Research, LLC (MQMR) announced today that it has promoted Mabel Lee to Warehouse Due Diligence Manager and hired Scott Weintraub as Internal Audit Manager.

Related link: https://www.mqmresearch.com/

ARMCO Updates ACES IQ to Provide Guidance on Regulatory Changes Made in Response to COVID-19 National Emergency Declaration

DENVER, Colo. /ScoopCloud/ -- ACES Risk Management (ARMCO), the leading provider of enterprise financial risk mitigation solutions, announced it has created a new question set category within its ACES Intelligent Questionnaire (ACES IQ) functionality to house all temporary regulatory provisions issued by state and federal agencies and the GSEs in response to the COVID-19 national emergency declaration. The new category provides ACES users with a centralized repository inside ACES Audit Technology to ensure audits are conducted using the most up-to-date compliance standards.

"With new information and guidance being issued seemingly by the minute at all supervisory levels, the task of collecting and tracking these changes can overwhelm even the most robust compliance department," ARMCO CEO Trevor Gauthier said. "In these challenging times, it is more important than ever for ARMCO to support its customers in their compliance, quality control and risk management efforts, and our team is dedicated to staying on top of these temporary provisions to ensure our clients are always working with the most current information available."

To help the industry at large stay informed of these changes as they arise, ARMCO is also tracking compliance news related to COVID-19 in its Compliance NewsHub, a free credit and compliance research library curated by ARMCO's in-house compliance team covering updates from regulators and investors. Readers can search for all COVID-19 compliance updates and news within the "Disaster News" category. In addition, ARMCO's compliance team has added all current dates for temporary compliance provisions related to COVID-19 on the Compliance Calendar, ARMCO's searchable roundup of compliance dates and deadlines, under the tag "COVID-19."

To subscribe to the Compliance NewsHub Weekly Roundup and Compliance Calendar, visit https://www.armco.us/compliance-newshub/subscribe.

About ARMCO

ARMCO is the leading provider of loan quality enterprise software, services, data and analytics for financial institutions and independent mortgage lenders. Its flagship product, ACES Audit Technology(tm), has set the bar for user definability in its category and is used at virtually every point in the mortgage lifecycle, as well as for a wide range of risk-prone business operations across the consumer lending spectrum. Over half of the top 25 mortgage lenders and 33% of the top 150 lenders and servicers combined choose ARMCO. ARMCO's consultative approach to customer relationships leverages 25 years of risk intel, ensuring that its clients are using the most effective risk mitigation strategies and the fastest, most reliable, most efficient means for preventing risk-related loss. ARMCO distributes the ARMCO Mortgage QC Industry Trends Report, a free quarterly analysis of industry-wide mortgage loan quality.

For more information, visit www.armco.us or call 1-800-858-1598.

ACES Risk Management (ARMCO), the leading provider of enterprise financial risk mitigation solutions, announced it has created a new question set category within its ACES Intelligent Questionnaire (ACES IQ) functionality to house all temporary regulatory provisions issued by state and federal agencies and the GSEs in response to the COVID-19 national emergency declaration.

Related link: https://www.armco.us/

Top of Mind gives loan originators must-have text messaging capabilities with SurefireCRM Power Messaging

ATLANTA, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- Top of Mind Networks (Top of Mind), a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation software for the mortgage lending industry, today announced the release of Power Messaging, a feature that enables SurefireCRM users to deliver high-touch text communication to consumers at scale.

Power Messaging makes it easy for loan originators (LOs) to engage prospects and customers with personal and timely text message communications. LOs control when, to whom and under which circumstances messages are sent. For instance, text messages may be sent to individual recipients or to groups of contacts; they may be deployed on a one-off or recurring basis; and they can be pushed immediately or scheduled for future deployment. LOs can even automate text communication with conditional rules and advanced workflows.

Power Messaging enables delivery of long-form messages with rich content. For instance, text messages can be customized with dynamic content, multimedia and external links. Power Messaging does not require recipients to download any apps, subscribe to a cellular data plan or acquire new technology skills. LOs can receive and respond to text messages from a dedicated chat window within the SurefireCRM platform.

"The ability to communicate with consumers on a personal level, on their preferred device, is just as critical to loan officers as being able to reach broad audiences through social media and email," said Top of Mind Chief Creative Officer Sherwood Lawrence. "At Top of Mind, we take people personally. Power Messaging is not a chat bot. What we've done is scale the person behind the process, so that loan officers can meaningfully engage consumers while growing and managing their sales pipelines."

About Top of Mind Networks:

Founded in 2003, Atlanta-based Top of Mind Networks (https://www.topofmind.com) has grown from a bootstrapped post-close, follow-up solution into the leading CRM/marketing automation firm in the mortgage industry. Their Surefire platform is widely regarded as the gold standard in enterprise CRM, automating best practice throughout a borrower's prospect-to-repeat-customer lifecycle.

Twitter: @mortgagecrm #PowerMessaging #mortgagemarketing

Top of Mind Networks (Top of Mind), a leader in customer relationship management (CRM) and marketing automation software for the mortgage lending industry, today announced the release of Power Messaging, a feature that enables SurefireCRM users to deliver high-touch text communication to consumers at scale.

Related link: https://www.topofmind.com/

SBA Publishes Guidance on Which CARES Act Provisions Require Immediate Action by Health and Retirement Plan Sponsors

ATLANTA, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- Independent, full-service employee benefits consulting firm Strategic Benefits Advisors (SBA) issued a statement today summarizing provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that require action on the part of health and retirement plan sponsors.

"The CARES Act calls upon plan sponsors to act swiftly in adopting measures that will ease the financial burden of COVID-19 on individuals," said SBA Founding Principal Mindy Zatto. "Plan sponsors should coordinate with their healthcare providers immediately so they may begin complying with the law's mandatory provisions. While most retirement plan provisions are optional, they are nonetheless time-sensitive and call for coordination with the plan sponsor's recordkeeper and actuary. Any necessary plan amendments won't be required until the end of the 2022 plan year."

Required Health Plan Provisions

Health plan sponsors must comply with the following provisions expanding access to healthcare for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients:
* Coverage of COVID-19 Testing
Plans must cover the cost of approved COVID-19 tests and their administration. Test providers should be reimbursed at a previously negotiated rate, if applicable. In the absence of a previously negotiated rate, plan sponsors may reimburse providers an amount equal to the publicly listed cash price of the service or negotiate a lesser reimbursement.

* Coverage of COVID-19 Preventive Services
Plans must also cover, without participant cost-sharing, qualified coronavirus preventive services and vaccines recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force or Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Required Defined Contribution (DC) Plan Provisions

DC plan participants who are due a required minimum distribution for 2020 may elect to not take the distribution without incurring any penalties.

Optional Defined Contribution (DC) Plan Provisions

DC plan sponsors may choose to extend the following benefits to plan participants who self-certify that (a) they have been diagnosed with COVID-19; (b) their spouse or dependent has been diagnosed with COVID-19; or (c) they have experienced certain other adverse financial consequences of COVID-19 as specified by the Secretary of the Treasury:

* Coronavirus-Related Distribution
Plans may allow a maximum $100,000 "coronavirus-related distribution" that must be taken by December 31, 2020. Early withdrawal penalties do not apply, and distributions are not eligible for rollover. However, a recipient of a coronavirus-related distribution has the right to pay the distribution back within three years, in which case it will be treated as a rollover contribution. The taxable amount of a coronavirus-related distribution can be spread pro-rata over three tax years.

* Increased Loan Limits
Qualified plans may increase loan limits from $50,000 to $100,000 and from 50% of the vested balance to 100% of the vested balance for loans made between March 27 and September 23, 2020.

* Delayed Loan Repayment
Plans may delay due dates for one year for individuals with outstanding loans whose repayment would normally be due between March 27 and December 31, 2020, allowing an extension beyond the normal five-year cap.

Optional Defined Benefit (DB) Plan Provisions

* Option to Defer Single-Employer Plan Funding
Plan sponsors may delay payment of any minimum required contributions that would ordinarily have been due during calendar year 2020 to January 1, 2021. The amount of each delayed contribution must be increased to reflect the interest accrued between the original due date and the actual payment date.

* Benefit Restriction Relief
For purposes of applying benefit restrictions under Code Section 436, plan sponsors may elect to use the prior plan year's adjusted funding target attainment percentage as the adjusted funding target attainment percentage for plans years that include calendar year 2020. This may allow some plans to avoid triggering certain benefit restrictions in 2020 that would have otherwise applied.

The full text of the CARES Act can be found here. To speak with Strategic Benefits Advisors' experienced team of benefits consultants about the potential impact of this law on your plans, call 770-551-8989.

About Strategic Benefits Advisors

Strategic Benefits Advisors, Inc. (SBA) is an independent, full-service employee benefits consulting firm focused on creatively and effectively solving complex benefits issues for clients ranging from 500 to over 300,000 employees. Founded in 2002 by veteran consultants Mindy Zatto and Andy Adams, SBA provides practical consulting recommendations and expert implementation of solutions for all types of employee benefits programs, including retirement, health and welfare, financial wellness and employee recognition. With an average of over 25 years in the field, SBA's team of actuaries, consultants and systems specialists is among the most experienced in the industry. For more information, visit https://www.sba-inc.com/.

Independent, full-service employee benefits consulting firm Strategic Benefits Advisors (SBA) issued a statement today summarizing provisions of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that require action on the part of health and retirement plan sponsors.

Related link: http://www.sba-inc.com/

FormFree Expands Partnership with American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia in Celebration of 2020 Red Cross Month

ATHENS, Ga. /ScoopCloud/ -- FormFree® today announced it is celebrating Red Cross Month by expanding its long-held partnership with the American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia. FormFree will support the Northeast Georgia chapter's mission of alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies by giving fiscal contributions and engaging in monthly acts of service throughout 2020.

In April, FormFree will kick off its expanded partnership by donating life-saving blood to help hospitals maintain a continuous supply during the novel coronavirus pandemic. According to a recent statement released by the Red Cross, which collects 40 percent of the U.S. blood supply, more than 12,000 blood drives have been canceled across the country as of March 30, leading to an estimated 325,000 fewer blood donations. The resulting blood supply shortage could affect the ability of victims of physical trauma, surgery patients and cancer patients to get the care they need.

"The Red Cross' mission of alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies resonates powerfully with FormFree's culture of empathy, service and generosity," said FormFree Founder and CEO Brent Chandler. "Although we've long been a partner of the American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia, in today's uncertain environment we feel especially compelled to give back to this vital institution supporting our community."

Chartered in 1917, the American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia provides direct service to 23 Georgia counties by supporting the collection, testing and distribution of blood and blood components in the region, providing emergency resources for military families, facilitating lifesaving training in first aid, CPR and use an AED and helping people and communities impacted by disasters. Red Cross Month is a nationwide tradition begun by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1943.

"FormFree shares our passion for serving our nation's veterans and communities in need," said Marlon Trone, executive director of the American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia. "We thank them for their continual generosity and look forward to working alongside them for the betterment of our community for years to come."

FormFree has participated in numerous community awareness and service events hosted with the Red Cross of Northeast Georgia since the company's founding in 2008. Brent Chandler joined the Red Cross of Northeast Georgia's board of directors in 2017.

About FormFree:

FormFree® is a market-leading fintech company whose revolutionary products AccountChek® and Passport(tm) are changing the credit decisioning landscape and encouraging lenders nationwide to incorporate a more holistic view of each borrower's financial DNA. To date, thousands of U.S. lenders and brokers have ordered millions of FormFree's patented verification reports representing over a trillion dollars in loan verifications. FormFree delights borrowers and lenders with a paperless experience, reduces origination timelines by up to 20 days and offers automated analysis and standardized delivery to lenders and investors using a secure ReIssueKey(tm). A HousingWire TECH100(tm) company for four consecutive years, FormFree is based in Athens, Georgia.

For more information, visit https://www.formfree.com/ or follow FormFree on LinkedIn.

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit https://www.redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

Twitter: @RealFormFree @RedCross @NEGAARC #RedCrossMonth

FormFree® today announced it is celebrating Red Cross Month by expanding its long-held partnership with the American Red Cross of Northeast Georgia. FormFree will support the Northeast Georgia chapter's mission of alleviating human suffering in the face of emergencies by giving fiscal contributions and engaging in monthly acts of service throughout 2020.

Related link: https://www.formfree.com/

Rapid Deployment Solutions Selected to Improve Federal Alcohol Tax & Trade Bureau Audits Responsiveness for a Large Distillery

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. /ScoopCloud/ -- Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS) - a leading Content & Records Management solutions company - is excited to announce that it has been selected by one of the largest North American distillers and alcohol distributors to improve their Accounts Payable process, AP audit support, Customer Service support, and to increase responsiveness to the U.S. Federal Alcohol Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) Audits.

"We are committed to our client's success and their maximum customer satisfaction," said Greg Kowalik, President of Rapid Deployment Solutions. "RDS has extensive experience in Enterprise Information Management and SAP, particularly deploying applications and processes that support digital transformation."

The Accounts Payable solution implemented by RDS digitized vendor invoice processing, shortened response times to both vendor inquiries and audits. All historical documents that were still auditable were scanned and linked with the corresponding SAP transactions for a seamless integration. All incoming paper and email invoices are digitized first and always associated with the proper ERP vendor invoice, improving the overall process, invoice approvals, and allowing capture of early payment discounts, which provides millions of dollars in savings.

The solutions implemented to shorten audit response times and improve customer satisfaction leveraged SAP Extended ECM by OpenText. All sales-related documents are associated with their corresponding transactions in SAP; they are fully searchable and placed under records management. Federal Alcohol Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) Audits are supported now much more efficiently. Customer support inquiries have a shorter duration, which improves overall customer satisfaction.

More information: https://www.rds-consulting.com/news/2020/3/30/rds-improves-federal-alcohol-tax-trade-bureau-audits-responsiveness

About Rapid Deployment Solutions

Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS) is a leader in providing strategy, planning, and implementation of Content & Records Management solutions. RDS has applied its industry knowledge and expertise to help Fortune 100 customers become more competitive, efficient, and profitable through the application of innovative technologies, greater efficiencies, and cloud solutions. For more information, visit https://www.rds-consulting.com/.

MEDIA ONLY CONTACT:
Jason McCloy
Circus Interactive
+1-704-255-5787
media@circusllc.com

Rapid Deployment Solutions (RDS) - a leading Content & Records Management solutions company - is excited to announce that it has been selected by one of the largest North American distillers and alcohol distributors to improve their Accounts Payable process, AP audit support, Customer Service support, and to increase responsiveness to the U.S. Federal Alcohol Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) Audits.

Related link: https://www.rds-consulting.com/