MBA is investing $2m to boost MISMO initiatives

Mortgage industry standards and the resources to support them have been given a major boost by the Mortgage Bankers Association.

It has announced $2 million of seed funding for MISMO, the Mortgage Industry Standards Organization which will power the development of standards and provide additional resources for the industry.

"This investment will speed the development of industry-wide standards, benefiting lenders of all sizes and business models, by improving the integration and flow of data across the entire industry," said Mike Fratantoni, President of MISMO and MBA's Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research and Industry Technology.

Early all industry stakeholders, including the GSEs, have adopted MISMO standards and the large investment will enable the organization to expand its resources in support of key initiatives, such as a uniform dataset for private label mortgage-backed securities, a standardized closing instructions template, harmonized remote online notary (RON) standards, common standards to encourage business-to-consumer communications on smartphones and tablets, and appraisal and rent roll standards for commercial and multifamily lenders.

Others urged to follow
While the MBA investment is a sizeable one, MISMO is keen to engage others in the industry to provide further support.

“We hope that lenders, vendors and others across the mortgage industry will follow MBA's lead by contributing additional funding and the human resources necessary to deliver the standards that will support innovation throughout the industry," said Kurt Pfotenhauer, Chairman of the Board of Directors for MISMO, and Vice Chairman at First American Title Insurance.