Eye on the Industry: Updates on Wells Fargo, MGIC, and More

From new appointments to rating upgrades, get the latest buzz on the mortgage industry in this weekly update.

After months of anticipation, Wells Fargo & Co., a diversified, community-based financial services company based in Des Moines, Iowa, has announced that Jeff Smith, who currently represents servicing and customer excellence risk in the Consumer Lending Real Estate Compliance and Operational Risk (RECOR) group, will take the helm as head of Home Lending Servicing. This appointment comes after the current head, Perry Hilzendeger, was named to run the bank’s Home Lending Retail Originations in March. “Our servicing team plays a critical role in helping our customers through their homeownership journey, and Jeff is uniquely qualified to build on the momentum and solid foundation that is already in place,” said Michael DeVito, head of Wells Fargo Home Lending. “He has a proven track record of leading high-performing teams, hands-on experience managing large customer-support organizations, and strong relationships across Wells Fargo and our industry. These strengths, combined with his deep operations and risk management experience, will help us continue to evolve our business with the customer at the center of every interaction.” Smith has more than 30 years of experience in financial services in businesses including credit cards, personal loans, home equity and home mortgages. Before his RECOR role, he oversaw collections and customer contact for Wells Fargo Home Lending. He has spent nearly 10 years in Wells Fargo’s home mortgage and home equity servicing units.

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Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation(MGIC), the Milwaukee-headquartered mortgage insurance company recently announced that it had appointed Michael E. Jacobson as VP of Corporate Development. In his new role, Jacobson will lead the development of mortgage credit enhancement solutions. Prior to joining MGIC, Jacobson spent 13 years at Milliman, Inc. of Brookfield, Wisconsin, in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Principal and Financial Consultant in the company's credit risk practice. Jacobson was recognized in 2017 for his contributions with the Milliman Chairman's Innovation Award. "Mike has had great success working with a variety of participants to identify new opportunities in mortgage credit risk," said Sal Miosi, EVP of Business Strategy and Operations at MGIC. "His creativity and drive will be an invaluable asset to MGIC as we continue to advance our role in the industry. I am excited to bring Mike onto the team, and look forwarding to working with him in his new role." Jacobson holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.

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Columbia, Maryland-based IndiSoft, a global provider of technology solutions for the financial services industry, has welcomed Mark Sweeney as their newest CTO. Sweeny will be responsible for all technical and product strategy, development, and support. “We are excited to have someone of Mark’s caliber join the IndiSoft team,” said Hans Rusli, CEO of IndiSoft. “We felt that Mark is a great fit for this role based on his experience and commitment to the evolution of technology in business. He is an innovative leader recognized for establishing and continually improving client relationships and developing application strategies.” Sweeney has more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry. He was previously senior vice president of service delivery at Bank of America and executive vice president of applications development at Countrywide Home Loans. Sweeney has proven experience in managing large technology organizations and delivering enterprise systems. “Mark’s organizational leadership, experience with governance processes, employee satisfaction and organizational metrics programs makes him ideal for this position,” said chairman and founder of IndiSoft, Sanjeev Dahiwadkar.

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LoanCare, a ServiceLink company, has announced that its rating has been reaffirmed and maintained as Above Average, both as a residential mortgage primary servicer and as a residential special servicer, from S&P Global. According to their statement, the outlook is stable for both rankings. According to S&P Global’s results, the rankings reflect LoanCare’s "enhanced technology environment, multiple levels of internal controls, sound training program and well-managed vendor oversight area.” This report points to several positive attributes of LoanCare including, “an experienced management team, competitive turnover metrics and proactive default management practices that are inclusive of automation.” S&P Global believes that LoanCare has made improvements to its infrastructure to highlight efficiencies and reduce risk. “We expect LoanCare to remain a competitive servicer in the residential marketplace,” S&P Global stated.