Industry Briefs Sept. 10, 2020
Intercontinental Exchange Completes Acquisition of Ellie Mae from Thoma Bravo
Intercontinental Exchange, Atlanta, received regulatory approval and completed its $11 billion acquisition of Ellie Mae from private equity firm Thoma Bravo.
“We are excited to begin the next important chapter in our journey to digitize the residential mortgage industry,” said Jeffrey Sprecher, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Intercontinental Exchange.
Ellie Mae was founded in 1997. Through its digital lending platform, Ellie Mae provides technology services to all participants in the mortgage supply chain, including its more than 3,000 customers and thousands of partners and investors participating on their open network who provide liquidity to the market.
Intercontinental Exchange made a majority investment in the Mortgage Electronic Registrations System (MERS) in 2016, which it fully acquired in 2018. The strategy continued with the acquisition of Simplifile in 2019.
HUD Urges Localities to Use Grant Funds to Prevent Evictions
HUD reiterated the Trump Administration’s commitment to minimize displacement and evictions resulting from the COVID-19 global pandemic national emergency. HUD reminded all grantees–states, cities, communities and nonprofits–that received Emergency Solutions Grants or Community Development Block Grant funds that they may use these funds to provide rental assistance or other aid to individuals experiencing financial hardship because of the pandemic and are at risk of being evicted, consistent with applicable laws, regulations and guidance.
HUD said it continues to provide technical assistance to grant recipients to prevent evictions and keep people in their homes throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, the department provided virtual office hours for grantees to ensure relief funds are being used quickly and efficiently. HUD has issued a toolkit for landlords and Public Housing Authorities so they can work with their tenants during this difficult financial time. Additionally, HUD has extended its single-family eviction and foreclosure moratorium for FHA-insured single-family homes three times, has promoted the Department’s Housing Counselor services and issued guidance for lenders.
Black Knight: Loans in Forbearance Continue to Fall
Black Knight, Jacksonville, Fla., reported that after holding flat for the last couple of weeks, the total number of mortgages in active forbearance saw stronger than expected improvement, with the number of active forbearance plans declining by 147,000 (-4%) over the past week. Active forbearances are now down by nearly 1 million (-21%) since the peak in May.
Black Knight’s McDash Flash Forbearance Tracker said as of September 1, 3.8 million mortgages remain in active COVID-19 related forbearance plans, representing 7.1% of all active mortgages, down from 7.4%. Together, they represent $804 billion in unpaid principal. Of these, 75% have had their terms extended. The decline was primarily driven by portfolio-held loans, which fell by 75,000 last week, along with GSE mortgages which saw a 49,000 decline in the number of active forbearance plans. FHA/VA loans saw a more modest weekly decline at -23,000.
