In its second significant digital initiative in 2018, Wells Fargo [1] announced on Monday that it would be entering the eNotes segment and begin purchasing these instruments from a select group of lenders. The bank plans to make these a broader market offering in 2019.
As part of this strategy, Wells Fargo said that it had entered into an agreement with eOriginal [2], a digital solution provider for the mortgage industry, to enable the purchase of eNotes through Wells Fargo Funding, the bank's correspondent channel.
“Our ability to purchase eNotes is the latest step in our expansion in the digital lending space that broadens our approach to serving consumers and clients as we transform our mortgage business,” said Michael DeVito, Head of Wells Fargo's Home Lending business. “We’re committed to delivering innovative solutions throughout the mortgage lending process. With eOriginal providing eVault services, we’re aligned with a company that has a proven track record in the digital lending community.”
eOriginal will be providing Wells Fargo with its eVault facility, which will enable the bank to store eNotes digitally so that they have the same legal enforceability as paper.
Digital initiatives have been an increasingly important part of Wells Fargo's strategy. Reporting on the company's third quarter results on Friday, Tim Sloane, CEO, Wells Fargo had said that innovation was one of the six goals that the bank was specifically focusing on in its efforts to build a better Wells Fargo.
Apart from the launch of its eNotes program, the Wells Fargo Home Lending had recently launched an online mortgage application program for its retail origination customers.
This program pre-populates existing customer data and helps reduce the time taken for opening and closing a mortgage loan application. According to Wells Fargo, this program accounted for 28 percent of the overall retail applications in September 2018.