- 6 weeks ago
Innovation in mortgage technology isn’t about chasing trends, it’s about staying ahead of a market that never slows down. Timothy Bowler sits down with Diego Sanchez and explains how ICE Mortgage Technology’s interconnected platform empowers lenders to capture new business opportunities while retaining existing customers. He breaks down why competitors’ claims of “legacy technology” miss the mark: ICE delivers a platform that evolves with the market and enables lenders to innovate while minimizing risk.
From compliance to scalability, Bowler’s insights demonstrate how proven technology allows teams to act quickly while maintaining compliance. “One word… is scale,” Bowler said.
From compliance to scalability, Bowler’s insights demonstrate how proven technology allows teams to act quickly while maintaining compliance. “One word… is scale,” Bowler said.
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NewsTranscript
00:00We are live from Las Vegas. I'm Diego Sanchez, president of Housing Wire, and I'm here with a
00:12special guest. It's Tim Bowler, president of ICE Mortgage Technology. Yep. We've had these
00:17conversations before. I'm thrilled to talk to you again, Tim. Great, Diego. Thank you for hosting
00:21me again. It's always great to connect, and it's excellent that we get the chance to connect here
00:25at the MBA conference with so many of our mutual clients and stakeholders that we interact with
00:30on a day in and day out basis. That's right. I love it. So what are you paying attention to right
00:36now? What trends in the market are you thinking about, and what's impacting your business right
00:41now? One word in that regard, scale. Our sense from engaging with our clients, our sense from the
00:48data that we're seeing is the market is getting better. And as you know, and everybody knows,
00:52the last three years have been rough. The environment's been challenging with home prices
00:57that have been stubbornly high, making affordability challenging, higher rates. But we're starting
01:02to see some changes in that environment that are really starting to re-energize activity
01:06across the industry. And right now, the number one thing that our clients are asking us is
01:12help us scale. Help our lending officers do more loans. Help our underwriters do more loans,
01:18because we want to be there to be able to capture a better purchase market, hopefully in 2026,
01:23and certainly a better refinancing market as long-term rates are starting to work their way
01:28down. And adjustable rate mortgages are starting to look more favorable as an alternative
01:32for those refinancing in the future.
01:36So scale, that's a key word.
01:38Scale is the consistent theme that I'm hearing from our client base at the conference and recently
01:44over the last couple of weeks, given the better environment we're looking at.
01:47All right, so you're the president of ICE Mortgage Technology. You oversee a pretty wide range
01:53of technology across servicing and origination. When you hear your clients want to scale,
01:58how do you adjust your priorities for ICE Mortgage Technology in 26 to help them scale up?
02:04Yeah. So there's three key areas. So first and foremost, it all starts with the data.
02:09It's basically helping our clients leverage their data, curate their data better, to be able
02:14to help them engage with their lending officers, to be able to help them engage with their underwriters,
02:19to be able to do more business and to be able to complete their tasks and their functionality faster.
02:25So thinking about it, putting yourself in a lending officer's shoes, you want to have all those
02:30core data sets at your fingertips to be able to know when to engage with a household that you helped
02:34get that mortgage. You know, two years ago, that might have a note rate at 7% that right now might be
02:40in the environment that could be more favorable for their refinance. Or that household that you
02:46engaged with five years ago, that's in that 3% note rate, but you know what? You know they have a
02:51kid that's ready to go to college, that a home equity loan might be right for them in the current
02:55environment, given the home price appreciation that they've had. For that underwriter, it's helping
03:00them get access to those core underwriting data sets faster and more efficiently and more structured
03:05so they can underwrite those loans faster. And they can scale up, particularly in an environment
03:10to refinancing activities, picking up, and you're going to want to get that loan closed faster.
03:15So it starts with the data. It starts with the tools. It's giving our clients better interfaces
03:19so they can look at that data sets more effectively and make decisions more crisply and cleanly.
03:26And then third, which is within the context of fulfillment, it's helping you fulfill faster.
03:30So it's better technology around e-close. It's better technology around e-notes. That is really
03:35those key things. So it's data, it's interface, and it's faster fulfillment.
03:40You know, I don't think people know ICE as a data company, but you're sitting on top of a lot of data.
03:44A hundred percent. And it's, you know, our clients are continuously pushing us to find ways to better
03:51curate the data that they might have. That's an encompass. On the servicing side, it's an MSP.
03:56We unified those data sets to help them make more intelligent decision-making.
04:01And that's why, you know, my team has made a big push into business intelligence
04:04and offering better business intelligence modules to help our clients act faster, make better decisions.
04:11And then also, as they're thinking about their organization, measure themselves and their teammates
04:15much more effectively as to what's working, what's not. So you can make the right investments to help
04:21you scale. You're also in a unique position where you are managing servicing and origination
04:29technology for your lending clients. And it's a unique time for that because there are a lot of
04:36servicers who are really ramping up when it comes to originating from their book. So how does being able
04:42to integrate servicing and origination technology give you a leg up when you're working with your
04:48lending clients? Well, the way I like to think about it is how do we give our clients that are
04:52working with us the leg up? Yeah. Right. Because the way we do that is basically provide a straight
04:58through process where a loan that might be sitting in our system record for servicing MSP that a client
05:04uses. If they know that household is ready to refinance or if they know that household is ready
05:10to take a home equity loan, how can we pre-populate that application? How can we leverage that data in MSP
05:16to pre-populate the underwriting process to make it faster so you get to a digital prooper much more
05:22quickly? That file is manufactured faster and to my earlier point can be fulfilled quicker such that
05:28that household using the refinancing example can get access to that lower note rate faster so they
05:34can start saving money quicker. And they can do that through a digital interface that's native to
05:38that lender that we can provide that the household is working in that's already serving as their
05:44interface for servicing data. And the same thing holds true for home equity as well. It's how do
05:49you get a faster approval and a native interface that's easy to use since that household doesn't
05:54have to leave your ecosystem that they're looking at day in and day out to help manage their loan
05:58and that's through our servicing digital interface to make it easier to actually take that next step
06:04in their home finance journey, get that home equity loan or get that refinancing done effectively
06:08where they don't have to think, they don't have to do a lot of work and it's easy to manage
06:12that process with you as the lender or as a servicer engaging with them.
06:16There's so many lenders that are trying to differentiate by really serving their customers
06:21for life and you have a technology platform that enables them to serve their customers
06:25for life.
06:26100%. So they don't have to leave the ecosystem. So if you think about it as a servicer, you
06:31want to provide them a digital interface, a digital tool that allows that house on that individual
06:36is to manage their loan as they get services. They're making their payments as they're querying
06:42what's my house rule and be there when they're ready to basically take that next step in the
06:47housing finance journey, which could be refinancing in the current environment. It could, as I
06:51mentioned, a home equity loan or it can be that happy day when you pay off that mortgage, right?
06:57How do you get that payoff quote effectively done and process as fast as possible? That's what
07:02we're delivering to our clients through our digital interface, servicing digital. And that comes
07:06within the context of this MSP infrastructure that we provide as a system of record. And now it's
07:13feeding directly back into Encompass to be able to turn that home equity loan around faster, to be
07:18able to turn that refinancing around faster. So your household never has to leave that digital
07:24interface and has a positive experience.
07:25So maybe a more challenging question. Some of your competitors will frame ICE as legacy technology.
07:34How do you respond to that maybe criticism, you know, with the facts about what's actually going
07:41on at ICE?
07:42Well, first and foremost, it's just not true. At the end of the day, we provide the systems of
07:48record for the vast majority of loans in the United States. We provide the system of record for the vast
07:52majority of loans that are being underwritten. We continuously deliver new technology, new digital
07:57interfaces and integration across that core ecosystem. The amount of capital, the amount of
08:03investment that we've made at ICE over the last couple of years in integrating Encompass and MSP
08:08together, helping advance MSP as a standalone service of record, servicing system of record,
08:13helping advance Encompass as the core background in the LOS and the ecosystem has been tremendous.
08:19People are seeing that with better latency. They're better seeing the better resiliency.
08:22They're feeling much safer about those systems of record from the InfoSec or cyber perspective.
08:28And as we just talked about, they're also seeing how they can bring this all together to help keep
08:33that customer for life. They're having that native digital integration, that interface that leverages
08:38off of the system of record for servicing and origination.
08:42So I'm really thrilled with where we are today. Our roadmap and just the advancements that we've made
08:48over the last couple of years. The only way we're going to continue to have success is by partnering
08:52with our clients and continuing to invest. You know how fast technology moves. I mean, history's got
08:58myriad of examples of folks in the technology business that have moved slowly or drifted away
09:03from their clients. And I'm just going to be relentless in my seat as the executive to make
09:07sure that that's not the case with ICE mortgage technology.
09:10So as you think about the product roadmap and all of these things that you're building and connecting
09:15at ICE, how do you balance innovation with being the system of record for so many of your clients?
09:23Well, for me, that's easy. And I stress that with my team and my three odds, which is, you know,
09:30every day in every way I tell my teammates, you got to come in and improve what you're working on today.
09:36So if you're working on MSP, you've got to make sense that you're improving that core,
09:41you know, that core interface, that core client experience with MSP. If you're working on a compass,
09:47you're working every day in every way to try to improve that. Secondly, relentlessly find
09:52opportunities to integrate because that's where the value is going to come from. Somebody that,
09:57you know, originates a loan in the compass that might sell servicing. Well, if that buyer's,
10:03that buyer of those servicing rights is on MSP, having that doubt, those data sets and those documents flow
10:08natively from that encompass instance at the seller, at that IMB that might be selling that,
10:14um, that, uh, those servicing rights onto the MSP servicer without error, tremendous value. It makes
10:20the servicing rights much more valuable. And my third eye that I stress to my team is innovate.
10:25Yeah. Know the workflows, know what your clients are doing.
10:27Getting some mood lighting here.
10:28I know it's, it's, it's kind of nice, right?
10:31It's not even cocktail already, Diego, but it's, it's like innovate. And innovation comes from
10:36actually knowing your client's workflows. So it's making certain that you understand
10:41in granular detail, how your clients are processing their workflows to find ways to advance new
10:46technology, whether that be at the front end with the household experience, whether it's teeing up
10:51the loan for underwriting or whether it's in fulfillment, or as you're in, as you migrate over
10:55to servicing, it's basically finding ways to innovate, to, um, to help the customers, you know,
11:01digitally self-serve. That's the, you know, the one thing I continue to hear from our servicing
11:05customers is continue to help us partner, to help our clients help themselves with digital
11:10self-service because that delivers a better client and household experience.
11:13All right, let's wrap with what's next. So you've been spending a lot of time
11:17and investing a lot in connecting your servicing ecosystem with the origination ecosystem.
11:24What comes next for ICE in terms of innovation and your roadmap?
11:29You know what? I'm going to go back to the theme that we just talked about at the beginning of the
11:32conversation. What's next is helping our clients better scale. Yeah.
11:36So I'm going to touch on, I'm going to come back to a point that I just made to you around
11:40better digital interfaces. So, and I'll, I'll, I'll circle in on this one because our servicing
11:45clients are really focused right now on Tim, you know, can ICE help us give us better household
11:51tools, better digital interfaces, better predictive analytics so we can meet our clients where they're
11:57at within the context of something that might be happening in their life and loan journey with the
12:01digital interface. Whether that be when things are right and refinancing or if a household's facing
12:07a hardship, give them a digital interface that they feel comfortable with managing that, you know,
12:11helping manage that hardship or think through that hardship around either loan forbearance programs,
12:16loan modifications, or what have you. So it's really trying to find ways to leverage that,
12:22underlying those data sets, better predictive analytics to be able to deliver better digital
12:27interfaces to household. That's what I think is going to help our clients scale. That combined
12:32with all the other investments and innovation that we're doing, we're going to really deliver real
12:36value for, you know, the clients that choose to work with ICE. All right. So my takeaway is scale.
12:41Scale. Let's scale it up. That's it. We're going to be there to help this industry scale
12:43as the markets get better. All right, Tim. So great to talk to you. As always a pleasure. Thank you so much.
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