Industry Briefs Jan. 13, 2022: nCino Completes Acquisition of SimpleNexus
nCino Completes Acquisition of SimpleNexus
nCino Inc., Wilmington, N.C., completed its acquisition of SimpleNexus, a cloud-based, mobile-first homeownership software company, for total consideration of 12.76 million shares of nCino common stock plus cash consideration of $270 million, on a cash-free, debt-free basis and excluding transaction expenses.
The SimpleNexus platform unites people, systems and stages of the home buying process into a single end-to-end experience, enabling loan officers, borrowers, real estate agents and settlement agents to engage in the homeownership process from any device. SimpleNexus’ complementary products and mobile-first offerings will unlock additional opportunities and provide greater value for new and existing customers, including enhancing nCino’s mobile and point-of-sale offerings across additional lines of business.
BofA Securities served as financial advisor to nCino, and Sidley Austin LLP served as its legal counsel. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as legal counsel to SimpleNexus.
Ginnie Mae December MBS Issuance Tops $66B
Ginnie Mae reported today its December issuance volume was $66.84 billion. It said 242,793 homes and apartment units were financed by Ginnie Mae guaranteed mortgage-backed securities in December.
A breakdown of December issuance includes $62.31 billion of Ginnie Mae II MBS and $4.53 billion of Ginnie Mae I MBS, which in turn includes $4.3 billion of loans for multifamily housing. Ginnie Mae’s total outstanding principal balance as of December 31 was $2.153 trillion, up from $2.143 trillion in the prior month, and up slightly from $2.103 trillion in December 2020.
Fitch Ratings: Economic Recoveries Drive Global Financial Sector Outlooks in 2022
Fitch Ratings, London, said the vast majority of financial institution sector and subsector outlooks are neutral for 2022, reflecting the expectation for a continued, albeit slowing, global economic recovery and improvement in operating environments for banks, non-bank financial institutions and (re)insurers.
“We expect a deterioration in loan asset quality for banks and NBFIs in 2022 as fiscal and policy support wane,” said James Longdon, Fitch Managing Director of Banks. “However, we believe banks will offset these reductions with improved pre-impairment profitability and the reduction of loan loss allowances and excess capital buffers accumulated through the pandemic. Fitch-rated NBFIs’ solid capital levels and improved funding profiles should help mitigate a moderate pick-up in credit costs. NBFI operating performance is also expected to be supported by gradually rising interest rates.
Fitch said global tightening of monetary policies will be supportive of life insurer returns; however, the negative impact of historic low rates on profitability will remain for some time. Low rates have resulted in an increased allocation to higher-risk alternative investments by life insurers, as well as a structural shift toward more capital-light models. The economic recovery should result in volume growth in non-life business lines, with pricing discipline expected to continue. Claims are expected normalize, but costs should rise with inflation.
Azimuth GRC Secures Investment from Truist Ventures
Azimuth GRC, Jacksonville, Fla., announced an investment from Truist Ventures, the corporate venture capital division of Truist Financial Corp. The investment will be used to build and innovate the regulatory compliance Azimuth GRC platform by growing the team, product suite and go-to-market efforts.
Azimuth GRC provides compliance testing automation capabilities that improve accuracy, efficiency and cost savings and help reduce regulatory risk. The announcement comes on the heels of Azimuth GRC’s Series A funding round led by Mosaik Partners. Together, these funds will fuel internal and external growth for the company. Azimuth GRC also recently announced the addition of seasoned financial executive, Joe Proto, to its board of directors as well as Shannon Warren to its advisory board.
CFPB Sues United Holding Group for Illegal Debt Collection Practices
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau sued United Debt Holding, JTM Capital Management, United Holding Group and their owners, Craig Manseth, Jacob Adamo and Darren Turco, for illegal debt-collection practices.
The Bureau alleges that the defendants placed consumer debt with, or sold consumer debt to, collection companies that used unlawful and deceptive collection tactics. The CFPB said the defendants knew, or should have known, the collection companies made false threats and false statements to consumers. And although some of the defendants have been the subject of prior enforcement action, they continued their unlawful practices.
The complaint said UHG, headquartered in Williamsville, New York, was founded by Manseth, Adamo and Turco in May 2017. Before co-founding UHG, Manseth owned UDH, Turco worked at UDH as a manager and Adamo owned JTM. All three companies are debt collectors that buy debt portfolios from creditors, or other debt sellers, and then place the portfolios with or sell them to other collection companies. From September 2017 through April of 2020, the defendants collectively placed debts with a face value of more than $8 billion. The three individuals formed UHG and UHG then managed ongoing business for UDH and JTM. The CFPB alleges all three companies allowed third-party collection companies to deceive consumers and placed or sold debt portfolios to collection companies engaged in unlawful behavior.
OptifiNow Partners with Non-QM Wholesale Lender
OptifiNow, Seal Beach, Calif., announced deployment with NextUs Lending, an Irvine, Calif.-based non-QM lender focused on its growing wholesale platform.
OptifiNow’s features designed for wholesale lenders enabled NextUs to use features that quickly launched their marketing and sales management processes. OptifiNow features an automated account classification process that uses an LOS integration for data-based decisioning on critical factors, including loan submissions and user activity. The system synchronizes loan details and operational milestones to keep pipelines flowing and make sure bottlenecks and inefficiencies are quickly identified and addressed.
Zillow: Analysts Split on 2022 Housing Market Outlook
Zillow, Seattle, said an outside panel of economists and housing analysts is evenly split on whether sales will rise or fall in 2022 as concerns over worsening affordability collide with expectations for rising inventory.
When asked whether sales will rise or fall in 2022 compared to 2021, 41% of participants in the latest Zillow Home Price Expectations Survey said sales will grow, 41% predict a slowdown and 18% believe sales will remain roughly the same.
“The outlook for home sales in 2022 hinges on which side yields first,” said Zillow Senior Economist Jeff Tucker. “If buyers finally balk at unaffordable prices, sales volumes could fall. But if homeowners finally start listing their homes en masse, we could see a sales bonanza, cooling the pace of appreciation.
The Survey surveyed 106 housing market analysts and economists between November 15 – 29 to gather predictions for the outlook of the housing market in 2022 and beyond. The survey was conducted by Pulsenomics LLC on behalf of Zillow.
Freddie Mac Multifamily Securitizes Record $80.6 Billion in 2021
Freddie Mac, McLean, Va., issued a record $80.6 billion multifamily securities in 2021. Freddie Mac has settled more than $500 billion in multifamily securities through its K-Deal and various other risk-transfer offerings since the inception of the program in 2009.
In 2021, the company settled:
• $63.5 billion in K-Deals, including $2.0 billion in When-Issued K-Deals
• $5.1 billion in SB-Deals
• $7.0 billion in Multi PCs
• $4.2 billion M-Deals, ML-Deals, Q-Deals and MF REMICs (P and RR series)
• $0.8 billion in MSCR Notes
• $5.2 billion of Impact Bonds issuance across various deal types
