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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 79 while enabling them to retain total control over their financial information. We are excited to integrate with a digital innovator like Embrace." Because Embrace is working directly with Finicity instead of going through a third-party vendor, the integration between the two compa- nies is more flexible than similar arrangements. For example, Embrace is able to collect complete bank statements, which it can use to help as- sess a borrower's income and cash flow. is is particularly helpful for self-employed borrowers, who often have difficulties verifying income because they are paid irregularly. For loan- approval purposes, self-employed borrowers can now use cash flow data in their bank statements instead of tax forms. "Ensuring a borrower's assets and income in just minutes not only lets us streamline approv- als, we're also removing hurdles for nonconven- tional-loan borrowers as well," Hardiman said. "After years of watching frustrated borrowers wrestle with requesting, copying, and scanning paper bank statements, we're now seeing loans sail through our system. In a word, it's breath- taking. And our customers couldn't be happier." Citizens Bank Adds 200K Households to its Servicing Portfolio Rhode Island-based Citizens Bank (Citi- zens) has acquired Franklin American Mort- gage Company, a national mortgage-servicing and origination private, nonbank mortgage company. Franklin American Mortgage man- aged a $41.4 billion mortgage-servicing portfolio and generated approximately $13.7 billion in an- nualized originations for the first quarter 2018, nearly 100 percent of which was conforming. "is transaction takes our mortgage busi- ness to the next level, expanding our reach and adding immediate scale in servicing, as well as innovative correspondent and wholesale solutions," said Brad Conner, Vice-Chairman and Head of Consumer Banking at Citizens. "Franklin American Mortgage's strong history of excellence in customer service is a great cultural fit with our organization and we are excited to welcome a new group of colleagues to Citizens." "We view this transaction as an opportu- nity to add scale and capital to the outstanding platform and customer-centric culture that our employees have created," said Dan Crockett, Owner, President, and CEO of Franklin American Mortgage. "Citizens shares our deep and enduring focus on delivering for customers, as well as our strong commitment to colleagues looking at starter homes might just be a sign of shoppers giving up. "Recent changes are driven by search activity growing more slowly for starter homes than for trade-up and premium homes," the study found. When it came to listings for premium homes, the study found that Austin and Boston topped the charts in this category even as searches were chasing short supply in the starter and trade-up home categories in these cities. In turn, sellers were feeling the recent shift in their favor in Ventura County, California; Austin, and Buffalo, New York, the study found. RHODE ISLAND Embrace Home Loans & Finicity Streamline Borrower Approvals Embrace Home Loans, a digitally focused mortgage lender headquartered in Rhode Is- land, announced that its borrowers can now rap- idly verify assets through a digital experience, eliminating the need for borrowers to print, copy, and email paper bank statements, thereby reducing the process to secure a mortgage by up to a week or more. e innovation is a result of a software integration between Finicity, a provider of real- time financial data aggregation and insights, and Embrace's loan-origination system. When borrowers apply for a mortgage online, they can simply give Embrace permission to generate a verification of assets report using data direct from their bank. is process is more secure than sending printed documents or electronic documents via fax or email. e new capabil- ity also enables Embrace to take advantage of Fannie Mae's Day 1 Certainty program, as Finicity is an approved report provider. is program provides lenders faster documented loan approvals. "is is a dramatically improved experi- ence for Embrace and for our customers," said Embrace Home Loans CEO Dennis Hardi- man. "With Finicity's help, we've removed one of the biggest sources of friction in the mortgage process, which is documenting the borrower's assets and income. It's a landmark development in our journey toward becoming a fully digital mortgage lender." "More and more, customers expect services that they can access online via their phones or PCs, and it must be easy to understand and use," said Steve Smith, Finicity's CEO. "Embrace gets this, allowing us to work together to ac- celerate the mortgage process for borrowers and communities, which Franklin American Mortgage employees have long embraced. Together, we'll be able to increase our positive impact on customers and grow the business platforms that are a great source of pride for us." In a statement, Citizens Bank said that the deal would triple the size of its off-balance sheet mortgage-servicing portfolio and more than double its origination platform. It would also significantly diversify the bank's origination capabilities with the addition of correspondent and wholesale channels. "We have a little over $30 billion of service portfolio at present and with Franklin's ad- ditional portfolio, we will be close to $80 billion in serviced mortgages, which also puts us among the top 15 originators in the U.S.," Eric Schuppenhauer, President of Home Mortgage, Citizens Bank told DS News. rough this deal, the bank plans to add approximately 200,000 servicing households, along with more than 600 correspondent rela- tionships and 1,000 wholesale-broker relation- ships. e acquisition will also help Citizens to improve its mix of confirming originations from 45 percent to around 85 percent, with ap- proximately 70 percent of combined originations by purchase volume. Most importantly, the acquisition would create a strong correspondent and wholesale-lending arm for the bank, which has traditionally been on the retail side of the mortgage business. "Franklin American has built an enviable correspondent and wholesale operation," said Schuppenhauer who will lead the combined business. "We will be operating their third- party origination (TPO) business as a division of Citizens Bank and by providing our cost of funds and capital, we will be growing into that business first. Franklin American has a smaller retail component and we'll combine our forces on the retail side to bring our product and pric- ing capabilities to Franklin American's retail business." Following the completion of the transac- tion, Scott Tansil, CFO and COO of Franklin American Mortgage, will lead the acquired correspondent and wholesale-origination busi- nesses headquartered in Franklin, Tennessee. e bank will also be adding 900 people from Franklin American by virtue of this deal to its existing team. "e addition of Franklin Amer- ican's team would take the size of the mortgage lending team at Citizens Bank to around 2,000 to 2,500 people," Schuppenhauer said. In a statement, Citizens said that the bank would maintain a significant presence in Ten- nessee and Texas. Dan Crockett will remain involved in the business in an advisory role with Citizens Home Mortgage.

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