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[New] TECHNOLOGY

it easier for them to understand and adapt to climate scenarios that will impact their assets.

“To understand the value of our data, think about a lender’s assessment of risk associated with a loan - The lender must not just consider the creditworthiness of the borrower, but also risks to the collateral. An individual property’s susceptibility to climate-driven disasters such as wind, flood or fire is a material component in that calculation,” said ClimateCheck CEO, Cal Inman.

ClimateCheck distills more than 50 different climate simulations from peer-reviewed government and academic sources into an easy-to-understand risk assessment. Our scoring tool proactively analyzes portfolios and pipelines for potential climate-related environmental exposures and assigns a risk score, continuously updated with the latest climate data. We forecast risk related to heat, storm, fire, drought, and flood hazards down to the individual property level. We do this for multiple climate scenarios, decades into the future.

Black Knight is incorporating ClimateCheck’s data into turnkey client solutions that enable clients such as mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors to understand how different potential climate risks will impact things such as property valuation and mortgage default rates.

to address a key pain point for its core customers. Mortgage payoffs comprised 45% of all wire fraud incidents reported to the CertifID fraud recovery services team, the single largest use case over the past two years.

“The recent addition of PayoffProtect to our CertifID software agreement reduces this major source of risk for our operations,” said Bob Taylor, Vice President of Escrow Accounting at Stewart. “Since we began using CertifID two years ago, I have seen a substantial drop in the number of wire fraud attempts reported.”

CertifID also provides fraud recovery services to any consumer or business that becomes a victim of wire fraud. The team provides a single point of contact for customers to help them navigate across multiple parties, including banks and law enforcement, who need to work together during a fraud recovery process. Trained by the U.S. Secret Service, the CertifID team recovered over $50 million in funds from cybercriminals over the past two years.

ActiveComply Launches Service To Ensure Remote Employee Compliance

ActiveComply, a provider of cloud-based solutions that help companies in highly regulated industries stay compliant, has launched Remote Office Inspection, a new digital service that uses the latest encrypted technology to help companies document their compliance with agency guidelines and state and federal laws when using remote employees.

CertifID And Stewart

Report Significant Reduction In Wire Fraud Risk

CertifID Inc., a leader in wire fraud protection, and Stewart Information Services Corporation, a global leader in real estate services, announced a significant reduction in wire fraud risk for the title company, home buyers and sellers, and lenders as a result of their partnership. This is in the face of the 64% year-on-year rise in overall cybercrime losses, most recently available from the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

In 2020, the companies entered into a partnership agreement to enable Stewart direct offices and independent agencies in Stewart’s Trusted Provider network the ability to collect and send wire instructions to customers. Since then, the partnership has continued to grow successfully in scale and scope.

Many of Stewart’s Direct Operations and independent agency partners have moved to CertifID software as their primary solution for wire fraud protection. CertifID is now available nationally through Stewart‘s Direct Operations across 35 states.

“Wire fraud is one of the largest and underpriced risks to our industry, and that’s why Stewart has been making significant investments into the right technologies, including companies like CertifID,” said Fred Eppinger, CEO of Stewart. “The partnership has provided winning solutions for consumers through both our direct operations and our agency services, who take advantage of the CertifID protections.”

CertifID launched PayoffProtect earlier this year

While a growing number of banks, mortgage lenders, credit unions and investment banking firms allow employees to work from home or a remote office, they remain subject to stringent industry rules and regulations that make compliance difficult to manage remotely. For instance, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires lenders to meet certain rules about protecting FHA loan files, which has proven difficult for employers to prove their due diligence.

Remote Office Inspection is an accessible way for companies with remote employees to ensure compliance, workplace safety and supervision. It includes a customizable survey that enables organizations to remotely inspect branch offices to ensure they have the proper signage, business license display and adequate security, which saves the expense of sending someone out to do a physical inspection. Remote Office Inspection’s survey features can also be tailored to prove the compliance of at-home employees, which is useful for regulated institutions subject to governmental oversight.

“When it comes to consumer privacy, the same rules apply whether an employee is working from their company’s headquarters or their living room couch,” ActiveComply Co-Founder and CEO Rob Nunziata said. “Given the recent increase in privacy violations and data breaches—some of which resulted in regulatory enforcement and multi-million-dollar class action settlements—ensuring that remote offices and employees do not create liability is a sound strategy.”

These attorneys are universally recognized by their peers as setting the highest standard for the legal profession, excelling in all fields — knowledge, analytical ability, judgment, communication, and ethics.

Scott L. Luna Partner

sluna@ravdocs.com 469-730-4607

Scott Luna’s practice is focused on real estate law with an emphasis on mortgage document preparation and land title issues. Scott managed a successful multistate highvolume title and document preparation business for over 20 years before joining RAV and is recognized throughout the real estate legal community for his expertise. As a past President of the Oklahoma Land Title Association, Scott’s ongoing involvement in the industry adds to his wealth of title-related knowledge. Scott received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Tulsa College of Law in 1991 after receiving his Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University. Scott is currently licensed in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Kentucky.

Mitchel H. Kider

Managing Partner

kider@thewbkfirm.com 202-557-3511

Mitch Kider is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Weiner Brodsky Kider PC, a national law firm specializing in the representation of financial institutions, residential homebuilders, and real estate settlement service providers. Mitch represents banks, mortgage companies, homebuilders, credit card issuers, and other financial service companies in a broad range of litigation and regulatory and compliance matters. He defends clients in investigations and enforcement actions before the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Justice, Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Trade Commission, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Ginnie Mae, and various state and local regulatory authorities and Attorneys General offices. In addition, Mitch acts as outside general counsel to smaller companies and special regulatory and litigation counsel to Fortune 500 companies.

Gregory S. Graham Co-Managing Partner

ggraham@bmandg.com 972-353-4174

Black, Mann & Graham CoManaging Partner Gregory S. Graham has practiced in the areas of real estate, litigation, and bankruptcy law since 1989, and is currently licensed in Texas and admitted to practice before the United States District Courts for the Northern and Eastern Districts of Texas.

Mr. Graham is also currently licensed to practice law in Georgia and has been since 2017. He received his Juris Doctor degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law in 1989 after receiving a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from UT Dallas.

Mr. Graham’s affiliations include the Dallas MBA, where he previously served as a Director & Chairperson of the Legislative Committee; DFW Mortgage Brokers Association, where he previously served as Legal Counsel; MBA; NAMB; Texas AMB prior to its closure; and Texas MBA.

James W. Brody, Esq. Mortgage Banking Practice Group Chair jbrody@johnstonthomas.com 415-246-3995

James Brody actively manages all the complex mortgage banking litigation, mitigation, and compliance matters for Johnston Thomas. Mr. Brody’s experience centers on those legal issues that arise during loan originations, loan purchase sales, loan securitizations, foreclosures, bankruptcy, and repurchase & indemnification claims. He received his B.A. in International Relations from Drake University and received his J.D., with a certified concentration in Advocacy, from the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law. He was a recipient of the American Jurisprudence BancroftWhitney Award. He is licensed to practice law in California and has been admitted to practice in front of the United States District Courts for the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Southern Districts of California. In addition, Mr. Brody has served as lead litigation counsel for numerous mortgage banking and commercial related disputes venued in both state and federal courts, in a direct capacity or on a pro hac vice basis, in AZ, CA, FL, MD, MI, MN, MO, OR, NJ, NY, PA, TN, and TX.

Marty Green

Attorney marty.green@ mortgagelaw.com 214-691-4488 ext 203

Marty Green leads the Dallas office of Polunsky Beitel Green, one of the country's top residential mortgage law firms. Mr. Green is an accomplished attorney with more than 20 years of experience in the legal, banking and financial services industries. He is the former Executive Vice President and General Counsel for Dallas’ CTX Mortgage Co. and previously worked with the Baker Botts law firm in Dallas as Special Counsel. In his role as leader of the firm’s Dallas office, Mr. Green advises clients on the latest rules and regulations covering residential lending, in addition to building on Polunsky Beitel Green’s long tradition of delivering loan closing documents with speed and accuracy. Mr. Green is admitted to practice before all Texas state and federal district courts in addition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. An honors graduate of the University of Texas School of Law, he earned his undergraduate degree at Southern Utah University. Texas Monthly has selected him as a Super Lawyer multiple years.

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