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Digital Risk Recognizes Its Executive Women with an Honorary Luncheon

Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance, analytics and mortgage fulfillment solutions in the U.S is proud to be the leader in recognizing executive women with in Digital Risk at a luncheon ceremony to be held on Thursday, April 18th at the company’s headquarter in Maitland, FL. This executive ceremony will honor Digital Risk’s top women who have provided much value to the company and will be recognized for their accomplishments and extraordinary contributions.

Digital Risk’s recognition ceremony is inspired by the 15th annual Orlando Business Journal’s “Women Who Mean Business” awards ceremony is set to take place later this month, on Thursday, April 25. The celebration honors Central Florida’s top women of distinction from around the community.

Last March, three of Digital Risk’s very own were nominated by the Orlando Business Journal for this prestigious award: Keri Gasiorowski, Senior Director of Human Excellence, Debbie Hoffman, Chief Legal Counsel, and Kimberly Lanham, Senior Director of PMO. Each nominee brings tremendous value to the company and has had a hand in shaping Digital Risk into the global organization we are today. All three women are disciplined executives who are paving the way in our industry for others to follow in their footsteps.

As a global company having over 1,700 current employees Digital Risk realizes the importance in recognizing those who truly make the company great. “I am very proud to be a part of a company that not only supports the growth of women in their professional careers, but also takes the time to recognize and celebrate the success of our female leaders.” said Hoffman. Likewise, Gasiorowski reinforces saying “It is refreshing and inspiring that Digital Risk encourages forward advancement and career achievement for women; I’m honored to work here.” Digital Risk takes great pride in being able to recognize those women who work hard day in and day out and help build the company to what it is today. The company employs over 100 female managers across our offices nationwide. “At our celebratory luncheon, we will discuss the company’s commitment to developing, recognizing and rewarding every woman who has the skills and desire to accept the challenges that come with being a Digital Risk leader. At Digital Risk, we strongly support advancement of any kind, but would like to give special recognition to our women leaders at this luncheon. Development of any kind not only shows grown at the individual level, but also enhances us an organization.” says Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk CEO.

DIGITAL RISK LAUNCHES ‘FASTLANE’ PROGRAM TO JUMP-START MORTGAGE UNDERWRITING CAREERS

Maitland, FL – Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance, and transaction management solutions, today announced FASTLANE, its latest initiative to launch mortgage careers. The intensive on-the-job program will groom 600 new employees for a career in residential mortgage underwriting over the next three years.

While earning full, competitive salaries, those applicants selected will obtain the working experience and technical training needed to become highly proficient mortgage underwriters, gaining in six months what typically takes three to five years.

Applications are now being accepted for the first session, which will be held in the company’s Maitland, Florida headquarters beginning May 20, 2013. Upcoming and recent college graduates with a Bachelor’s degree (minimum 3.5 GPA) are invited to apply through the company website.

“Digital Risk’s commitment to Making Mortgages Safe requires employees who are both career-minded and expertly trained,” said CEO Peter Kassabov. “So, not only were we Florida’s leading job creator in 2012, but we are now investing in incoming employees to ensure they receive the training to begin a career.”

FASTLANE coursework will be organized into modules that cover the mortgage underwriting process and product guidelines as well as industry history. Specific training in file set-up, processing, underwriting, and other essential skills will be provided in instructor-led classes both onsite and online. The knowledge acquired each week will then be applied in practical hands-on assignments.

“We believe in giving new hires and long-term employees everything they need to succeed,” said COO Omar Quddus. “Traditionally we invest around $10,000 per employee in superior vocational training designed to let them perform at their highest level. The 20 career-minded candidates chosen for each FASTLANE session will be 100% prepared to be underwriters and will continue their learning being mentored by a senior underwriter immediately following completion of the six-month training.

FASTLANE builds on the success of Digital Risk’s 2012 job creation initiative, which it completed far ahead of its two-year projections. In December, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported that “the company already has met its commitment to bring 1,000 jobs to Florida,” adding that it “created the most new jobs in the state this year, hiring 185 people in Boca Raton and more than 550 statewide.” Data released by the Governor’s office last July pointed out that the 1000 new jobs were on top of 1,300 jobs it had created in Florida since 2009.

Digital Risk plans to expand the program to its other locations in Florida and then across the country.

For more information and to apply online, visit the FASTLANE webpage.

About Digital Risk
Digital Risk, a wholly owned subsidiary of MphasiS, an HP company, is the largest provider of mortgage risk and compliance management solutions. The company provides buyers and sellers of mortgages and mortgage backed securities the analytical, technological and risk management services they need to achieve their goals. The Digital Risk platform delivers transparency at the loan level and precise risk assessment throughout the entire mortgage value chain. With over 1,700 U.S. based professionals, the company counts the nation’s leading servicers, originators, aggregators and investors among its clients. Digital Risk is independent and not affiliated with any originator, issuer, servicer or investor. Headquartered in Orlando, Digital Risk has additional operations in New York, Dallas, Denver, Chicago, Boca Raton, Tampa and Jacksonville.

Digital Risk’s Chief Analytics Officer, Tom Showalter talks about operation risk in mortgage loans in this radio interview.

Do you wonder where rates are headed? Learn more about frisk free rate verses risk driven rate. Tom explains measuring risk by evaluating credit risk, interest rate risk and manufacturing risk. Being relatively new, manufacturing risk is an important component to understand. He explains its source, detection and methods and tools that can be successful in lessening manufacturing risk. This newly recognized risk factor has been primarily overlooked in the industry’s past but during the Subprime Era it is becoming a necessary component to measure.

During this insightful 30 minute interview, Tom Showalter will share his expert knowledge on the relationship between interest rates and risk factors.

Click Here to Listen

DIGITAL RISK SIGNS A DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO BE ACQUIRED BY MPHASIS, A HEWLETT PACKARD (HP) COMPANY

Digital Risk, the nation’s largest independent provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by global services provider, MphasiS, a Hewlett Packard (HP) company.  The acquisition provides Digital Risk a global footprint to accommodate clients’ global risk and compliance needs, access to U.S. facilities to further accelerate growth of U.S. operations and access to MphasiS’ technology and analytical centers of excellence.

The acquisition is central to MphasiS’ ‘hyper-specialization’ strategy, bringing in over 1500 highly trained mortgage specialists and a deep domain expertise in mortgage risk and compliance.  Under the direction of its current leadership, Digital Risk together with MphasiS will expand Digital Risk’s U.S. footprint, anticipating the creation of 500 new U.S. jobs that can be housed in MphasiS’ operational centers across the U.S.

“The need for risk management in the mortgage market is not only a U.S. issue, but also a global necessity.  This acquisition provides the industry and clients a unique offering,” said Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk chairman and CEO.  “We’ve developed unique technology and analytics enabled processes that address the industry’s most complex risk and compliance problems and these core competencies apply to the global marketplace.  We are thrilled to combine our talent and expertise with MphasiS to set a global standard for making mortgages safe.”

“We began our journey of transformation in 2010 focusing on the Financial Services Industry.  This acquisition is central to our strategy of offering specialized services in chosen segments.  Digital Risk offers highly specialized services in the areas of risk and compliance specific to the mortgage industry. Their analytics platform combined with 1500 mortgage specialists makes them unique and differentiated. I am delighted to have Digital Risk with their strong brand join our family.” said Ganesh Ayyar, chief executive officer, MphasiS.

“Technology and analytics are a critical component to solving the risk and compliance issues facing the U.S. mortgage market.  Through MphasiS, we gain significant technology and analytic expertise which accelerates our ability to help our clients navigate the risk and compliance mine field of today’s mortgage market.” commented Alex Santos, co-founder and president of Digital Risk.

“The ability to leverage MphasiS’ facilities and expertise in both the U.S and internationally offers a remarkable advantage to our clients,” said Jeffrey C. Taylor, co-founder and managing partner of Digital Risk.  “Digital Risk will be the leading U.S. entity with the ability to provide risk, compliance, transaction management solutions to global portfolios – from the U.S., to the U.K, Canada and beyond.”

The transaction is expected to close late in January 2013 subject to the satisfaction of regulatory requirements and customary closing conditions.     Century Capital was the lead investor in Digital Risk.  Portico Capital Securities, LLC and Katz, Teller, Brant & Hild advised Digital Risk on the transaction.

DIGITAL RISK PINPOINTS SPECIFIC LIFESTYLE AND BEHAVIORAL ATTRIBUTES AS PRIMARY INDICATORS OF
LOAN MODIFICATION REDEFAULT

Analysis from 100,000 loan modifications identifies 32 discreet borrower behavior segments more reliable in predicting redefault than credit history

CHICAGO, IL – October 22, 2012 – Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, today at the MBA Annual Convention released findings from the analysis of 100,000 loan modifications using the Veritas™ Borrower Segmentation Engine which models borrower behavior to predict the likelihood of redefault and provides the reasons why the event will occur. These findings validate borrower lifestyle and behavior modeling, which is becoming a standard metric in the modification and lending decision processes.

The Veritas Borrower Segmentation Engine represents a very aggressive form of borrower analysis. The Engine analyzes each borrower in depth and classifies him/her into one of 32 clusters and one of seven Meta Clusters, which are groups of clusters with common properties. Veritas uses over 120 attributes about the borrower, the property and the local real estate market to analyze and classify a borrower.

Findings from across Meta Clusters include:

• • CLTV is not a definitive indicator of redefault: three of the best performing Meta Clusters have a CLTV far greater than 100% and are near equivalent to the worst performing
• • Problem debt correlates quite strongly with redefault in six of seven Meta Clusters
• • 56% of loan modifications were given to borrowers in the two Meta Clusters with the highest problem debt at the time of modification. These two Clusters redefaulted at the highest rates
• • The two lowest redefaulting Meta Clusters received only 22% and 3% (respectively) of all modifications

“Linking financial behavior to lifestyle has significant implications,” said Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk chairman and CEO. “Through our Veritas Borrower Segmentation Engine, risk can be accurately assessed on the likelihood of loan modification redefault, first lien foreclosure and the future behaviors of a new mortgage origination. The availability of this data enables truly reliable lending decisions.”

This research shows that lifestyle exerts a profound influence on a borrower’s financial behavior, highly relevant now that borrowers are more strategic in their use of discretionary funds. Specifically, their attitudes on borrowing, servicing and prioritizing debt and which types of debt does are considered more relevant, more important and why.

DIGITAL RISK DEBUTS AT 122 ON INC. 500 LIST OF FASTEST GROWING PRIVATE COMPANIES

Company also ranked number 11 in Financial Services industry following its three-year 2600% growth
MAITLAND, FL – August 22, 2012 – Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, has been named one of America’s entrepreneurial growth leaders by Inc., ranking number 11 in Financial Services and number 122 overall on the 2012 Inc. 500 list of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. The award adds to the company’s reputable status, as it was recently named Top Financial Services Company by The Association of Corporate Growth, a global community for mergers & acquisition dealmakers and business leaders.

“It’s exciting to be included in Inc. magazine’s very prestigious ranking,” said Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk chairman and chief executive officer. “We are proud of our growth and our ability to quickly scale yet maintain stringent quality and performance standards, and we are already prepared to tackle the problems in future market cycles. Our advanced analytics platform, Veritas™ coupled with our business process management will play a pivotal role in making mortgages safe during the next origination cycle by accurately gauging both credit and operational risk.”
In addition to its 2600% revenue growth, which catapulted earnings from $2.9M to $79.7M from 2008 – 2011, the company increased its U.S. based employees 1023%, growing full-time staff to nearly 1,000 during that period. Since end-of-year 2011, the company has added more than 400 jobs to meet capacity demands, and is on track to exceed 2300 full-time U.S. based staff in 2013.

“We welcome Digital Risk to this very exclusive club.” said Inc. editor in chief, Eric Schurenberg. “To rank among the 2012 Inc. 500, Digital Risk had to thrive through three of the toughest years this economy has seen in living memory. Their success in such times is eloquent testimony to their team’s creativity, resilience, and tenacity.”

DIGITAL RISK: DATA REVEALS BORROWERS THAT PAY OFF REVOLVING DEBT MORE LIKELY TO REDEFAULT ON MORTGAGE

Company introduces Veritas – the only multi-dimensional mortgage analytic platform that models systemic and operational risk for insight superior to single scoring methodology

MAITLAND, FL – August 1, 2012 – Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, today revealed Veritas, a mortgage analytics platform built on a vast repository of specific borrower, property and local real estate market data which provides multi-dimensional insight into the many facets of risk. The result is the most reliable method for understanding risk at the root cause, whether systemic or operational.

“The mortgage industry is relying on outdated methods to determine risk,” said Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk’s chairman and chief executive. “During the mortgage crisis, high FICO borrowers encountering distress defaulted in huge numbers, yet we still depend heavily on that one score along with CLTV to make lending and loan modification decisions. Veritas has shown there are many more impactful variables that can predict future risk with much more accuracy, and provide the reason why that risk exists. Veritas brings data and analytic confidence to the entire market, including origination, default and servicing.”

Digital Risk used Veritas to analyze data from more than five million loans originated from 2006 – 2011, including a separate analysis of 100,000 loan modifications. Analysis of the data demonstrates that current one-dimensional risk prediction offerings, even when retooled and rebranded, are not as meaningful without the discreet, multi-dimensional borrower models and methodology built into the proprietary platform. For example, data revealed borrowers eager to pay revolving debt following a loan modification are more likely to redefault. This information represents a historical shift in how the mortgage industry understands predictive factors.

While a single static score can display known borrower behavior, it does not take into account the ever-changing life factors that discriminate among borrowers, influence operational risk and are required to understand how those factors may affect the future.

“Veritas undoes many of the foundational beliefs about the loan lifecycle, from origination, to servicing, and even pricing the loan for sale into the secondary market,” said Thomas Showalter, chief analytics officer at Digital Risk. “We must create new models for measuring risk that are more discriminating, holistic and dynamic or the industry will repeat the mistakes of the past. Veritas is the first multi-dimensional engine of its kind to blend an assessment of systemic risk with an index of operational risk, achieving an ideal blend of people, processes, and technology to create a more complete picture of loan risk.”

Veritas allows the mortgage industry to calculate future risk using a multi-dimensional model to instill data confidence. Analytic and risk modeling services are provided as part of Digital Risk’s mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions. For additional information, visit www.digitalrisk.com or call 407-215-2908.

CONTACT: GOVERNOR’S PRESS OFFICE
(850) 717-9282
media@eog.myflorida.com

“1,000 New Jobs Coming to Florida; Digital Risk’s expansion targets Palm Beach County for first 150 jobs”

Maitland, Fla. – One thousand Florida jobs will result from a major expansion of Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions. Florida was selected for the expansion over four U.S. cities: Charlotte, N.C.; Dallas; Denver and Phoenix.

The expansion began last month with Digital Risk’s newest site in Boca Raton, where the first 150 of the 1,000 jobs will be staffed by early September. Digital Risk acknowledged the qualified pool of employees in the Palm Beach area influenced the selection of Boca Raton. The company will focus on finding communities throughout the state to meet the remaining need.

“The growth of Digital Risk perfectly demonstrates Florida’s ability to recruit and retain innovative companies that can contribute to our economy and provide high value jobs for Floridians,” said Governor Rick Scott. “The company’s expansion throughout our state is also evidence of our success in making Florida attractive to companies looking to increase business opportunities.”

Digital Risk expanded its Florida presence in 2009, adding more staff to its headquarters operations. Since then, the company also set up operations in Jacksonville. In total, Digital Risk has created more than 1,300 new jobs in Florida since 2009.

The projected growth that is prompting Digital Risk’s continued expansion is driven by the mortgage market’s focus on making loans safe for borrowers, banks and taxpayers. The specific services Digital Risk provides to make mortgages safe include:

• • Loan auditing and quality control
• • Foreclosure auditing and quality control
• • Appraisal auditing and quality control
• • Loan origination, modifications and short sales
• • Analytics and software

“We are committed to building long-term careers, not just jobs,” said Peter Kassabov, CEO of Digital Risk. “That’s why we invest more than $10,000 in training for each employee we hire. Florida’s incentive programs will allow us to expand our training even further as we look to hire 1,000 new employees in the next two years.”

Statewide, several organizations have been vital partners to Digital Risk in its expansion efforts. Among them are Enterprise Florida, Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, City of Boca Raton, City of Jacksonville, City of Maitland, JAX USA Partnership, Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, Workforce Florida Inc. and Orange County.

Former Fannie Mae Executive Brings a Holistic Mortgage Industry Perspective to His New Role as Executive Vice President, Client Solutions

Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, today announced that Gary Manfredi has joined the company as executive vice president of Client Solutions. Manfredi brings unique end-to-end mortgage industry experience to Digital Risk. His strategic perspective will assist the company’s origination, GSE and secondary market customers in managing origination capacity while ensuring loan quality and mitigating repurchase risk.

Manfredi has worked and managed all facets of production and operations, including sales management, underwriting, secondary and post-closing in all production channels — retail, wholesale and correspondent.

Manfredi comes to Digital Risk from Fannie Mae, where he served as vice president, Customer Management. In this corporate officer role, he applied his expertise in counterparty and default risk management, servicing management and secondary marketing togrow relationships with the nation’s top lenders. His success at Fannie Mae was built upon two decades of diverse mortgage industry experience.

Prior to Fannie Mae, Manfredi worked on the fixed income residential trading desk at Morgan Stanley, immersing himself in the residential mortgage-backed securities market. Manfredi was part of a team that designed, built and successfully implemented Morgan Stanley’s mortgage conduit.

“Gary brings an unparalleled perspective of the entire mortgage lifecycle, from mortgage banking to risk management and loss mitigation,” said Jeffrey Taylor, co-founder and managing partner of Digital Risk. “We look forward to his insight and expertise in developing solutions and relationships with our customers that will enhance their success and help us fulfill our mission to make mortgages safe for both investors and lenders.”

Proximity to Quality Employment Pool in the Region Made Boca Raton a Natural Choice for Company’s Growth

Digital Risk, the nation’s largest provider of mortgage risk, compliance and transaction management solutions, today announced that it has opened its newest office in Boca Raton, Florida, continuing the company’s expansion plans for 2012. The office will employ approximately 150 people within the next 90 days. This office is part of the company’s overall growth strategy.

Digital Risk’s expansion into Boca Raton is to address customer needs. The company-wide growth is being driven by housing market dynamics and the regulatory environment, including:

• Expansion of the company’s business model into the management of transactions on
  behalf of servicers, investors and, in particular, with originators
• Increased demand for the company’s pre- and post-funding quality assurance services
• The shift of the pendulum from automated to manual underwriting and skilled human judgment
• Compliance and risk management now dominate every aspect of the mortgage business
• The recent addition of a new default management suite of solutions, including attorney
  compliance reviews

Positions available at the new office include experienced underwriters, processors, closers, compliance experts and appraisers. The company is accepting applications, and qualified individuals can apply for open positions on the Career page of the company’s website.

“We have aggressive growth targets this year, and the opening of the Boca Raton office is a key component of our expansion plans,” said Peter Kassabov, Digital Risk’s chief executive officer. “Boca Raton offers a very qualified pool of potential employees, and a business environment that is welcoming to companies like Digital Risk.”

“Boca Raton continues to attract desirable employers,” said Susan Whelchel, mayor of the City of Boca Raton. “We’re excited to have an innovative company like Digital Risk join our every-growing community of corporate citizens.”

“We are thrilled that Digital Risk, with its impressive growth and commitment to creating quality jobs, has selected Palm Beach County, “ stated Kelly Smallridge, president and ceo of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. “This marks the 17th relocation/expansion announcement to our county in the last seven months underscoring the fact that Palm Beach County is a great place to operate a business. Winning this company was the result of the city, county, Enterprise Florida and Workforce all working together to bring jobs to our residents.”