Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS)
A current list of subsidiaries are listed below, many which have been subject to name change; e.g. the rebranding of Altisource.
(1) CastleLine® Insurance Services
(2) CWCOT Auction Services
(3) Equator® Default Servicing Platform
(4) Field Services
(5) Foreclosure Auction Services
(6) Foreclosure Trustee Services
(7) Granite Risk Management™
(8) Hubzu® Online Real Estate Marketing Platform
(9) Investability® Real Estate Investor Marketplace
(10) Lenders One® Cooperative
(11) NCI® Accounts Receivable Management
(12) noteXchange® Mortgage Trading Solution
(13) Premium Title™ and Settlement Services
(14) Processing Services
(15) Property Management Services
(16) Quality Control Services
(17) Real Estate Management Services
(18) REALHome Services and Solutions, Inc.
(19) REALHome Services and Solutions, Inc. Institutional Brokerage Services
(20) REALSynergy® Commercial Servicing
(21) Renovation Services
(22) Rental Homes
(23) RentRange® Rental Data and Analytics
(24) Short Sale Program Management
(25) Springhouse® Valuations
(26) Trelix™ Mortgage Fulfillment Services
(27) Underwriting Services
(28) Vendorly® Invoice
(29) Vendorly® Third-Party Oversight
(30) Vendorly® Transact
Deleted Website Pages as at July 5, 2021
‘Altisource Origination Services’ rebrands as Trelix
(Correction: This article previously stated that Altisource Portfolio Solutions is rebranding as Trelix. That is incorrect. Altisource Origination Services is rebranding. This article is now correct.)
Altisource Portfolio Solutions announced today that Altisource Origination Services will rebrand as Trelix.
Altisource Origination Services, now Trelix, is a provider of real estate, mortgage and technology services.
According to the company, it views the launch of the its new brand as a new opportunity to help lenders mitigate risks and reduce costs through customized mortgage solutions and its new technology launch.
As per a press release: some of Trelix’s services include:
- Processing: File preparation from application to closing
- Underwriting: Financial profile evaluation against lending guidelines and loan criteria to inform loan request decisions
- Loan Due Diligence: Full correspondent performance analysis and ratings agency due diligence to help ensure industry standards are met.
- Quality Control: Independent review of applicable loan files and associated documents to help maintain compliance with agency and lender requirements.
- CastleLine Certification: Execution of the CastleLine proprietary risk management process to help clients obtain Certified Loan insurance.
“The rebranding to Trelix is another important step in the evolution of our story as we continue to invest in technology to address the evolving and increasingly more complex needs of mortgage lenders and investors,” Trelix President Jon Gerretsen said.
The company said that it will also be launching an “innovative” technology platform in the first quarter of 2017, which is designed to improve mortgage lenders’ competitiveness by better managing regulatory obligations and helping businesses efficiently scale their operations
‘Altisource Portfolio Solutions’ acquires Castleline Holdings
Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), a marketplace and transaction solutions provider for the real estate, mortgage and consumer-debt industries, announced Thursday that it is acquiring CastleLine Holdings, a specialty risk management and insurance services firm.
Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
CastleLine is a provider of certified loan insurance products, which are designed to protect mortgage market participants against losses caused by mortgage underwriting defects.
In a release, Altisource said that the acquisition of CastleLine strengthens the company’s origination related offerings with products and services focused on mitigating risk in the origination, underwriting, purchase and securitization of residential mortgages.
Altisource also said that adding CastleLine will allow the expansion of CastleLine’s products and services into contiguous markets.
“The acquisition of CastleLine aligns with our strategy to continue helping the mortgage banking industry safely and securely increase production while reducing costs and mitigating risks,” Altisource’s chief executive officer, William Shepro, said.
“Combined with our existing origination offerings through Altisource Origination Services and our access to the members of the Lenders One and Wholesale One cooperatives, we add meaningful synergies to the existing CastleLine business model,” Shepro added.
“The acquisition also brings with it a highly talented leadership team,” Shepro continued. “I am excited to welcome the CastleLine team to the Altisource family.”
As Shepro said, CastleLine’s existing leadership team will join Altisource.
“Altisource and CastleLine together will continue to promote a safer and more efficient mortgage market that will benefit originators, correspondents, issuers and investors,” said Bryan Binder, chief executive officer of CastleLine.
“Our customers and partners now have an incredible opportunity to benefit from Altisource’s comprehensive and innovative suite of origination solutions,” Binder continued. “As part of the Altisource family, we know that we can bring great value to many participants of the mortgage market.”
‘Altisource Residential’ rebrands as ‘Front Yard Residential’
Altisource Residential, apparently tired of being confused with Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Altisource Asset Management, announced Friday that it plans to change its name to Front Yard Residential.
According to the company, the name change will take effect on Feb. 21, 2018.
The company did not provide much detail on the actual reason for the name change, simply stating: “The company is excited to rebrand and believes that the new name reflects the company’s focus on providing quality, affordable rental homes to families throughout the United States.”
The company said that it plans to unveil a new logo, brand messaging, and a re-designed website as part of the transition into its new name.
The company said that its new website will be FrontYardResidential.com.
As for the Altisource name, it’s caused confusion for some in the industry, due to the existence of Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Altisource Asset Management.
The relationship between the companies has caused issues in the past.
The New York Department of Financial Services began investigating the companies’ relationships with Ocwen Financial in early 2014.
The NYDFS investigation covered Ocwen’s relationship with Altisource Portfolio Solutions, Altisource Residential, Altisource Asset Management, and Home Loan Servicing Solutions, all of which were affiliated with Ocwen in one way or another.
Each of the companies were also chaired at one time by Ocwen’s founder, William Erbey.
That ended though when the NYDFS investigation led to the NYDFS fining Ocwen $150 million and forcing Erbey to resign from his position as chairman of Ocwen and his position as chairman of the affiliated companies.
Since then, Altisource Residential has shifted its business, significantly growing its portfolio of single-family rental homes.
A little over two years ago, Altisource’s portfolio of single-family rental homes checked in at 777 homes. Then Altisource nearly tripled its portfolio in a deal with Invitation Homes, acquiring 1,314 single-family rental homes for $111.4 million.
After that, the company made several significant acquisitions, including several deals with Amherst Holdings, one of which included buying more than 4,200 properties at once.
Last year, thanks to a three-part deal with Amherst, Altisource pushed its rental portfolio to more than 12,000 homes.
And soon, Altisource will leave that name behind and become Front Yard Residential.
Front Yard Residential picks up 325 rental homes in Broward County, Florida, USA
Deal is part of $485M acquisition of property manager HavenBrook
Front Yard Residential Corp. just picked up 325 single-family rental homes throughout Broward County for $25.4 million.
The deal is part of its $485 million acquisition of property manager HavenBrook and the 3,236 homes nationwide under its management, and expands Front Yard’s portfolio to 15,000 homes.
Front Yard, based in Christiansted, St. Croix, financed the deal with a $508.7 million loan from Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, which also covers some industrial properties, according to a release issued by the company.
In 2014, Front Yard (formerly known as Altisource Residential) was involved in an investigation by the New York Department of Financial Services in regard to its relationship with Ocwen Financial and an alleged scheme to secure servicing rights and foreclose on homeowners. Ultimately, Ocwen’s founder, William Erbey, was forced to resign from his position and was fined $150 million.
Front Yard, a real estate investment trust, joins a number of other REITs that are turning their focus to the multifamily and rental home markets, at a time when more Americans are steering away from home ownership and into renting.
In March, private equity firm Electra America launched a $300 million fund focused on multifamily investment. And just last month, New York-based Cerberus Capital Management bought 200 rental homes in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties for $47 million.
Front Yard has also previously completed deals with Amherst Holdings, which paid $25.7 million for a portfolio of single-family rental homes in Broward and Palm Beach counties in January. In 2016, Front Yard bought a portfolio of 4,262 single-family rental properties from Amherst for about $652.3 million.
SEC charges Home Loan Servicing Solutions over relationship with Ocwen
Also charges HLSS for misstating its net income
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it charged Home Loan Servicing Solutions for making “material misstatements” about its relationship with Ocwen Financial (OCN) as well as misstating its net income on several occasions.
According to the SEC, Home Loan Servicing Solutions, which was purchased by New Residential Investment (NRZ) in April, misstated how it handled transactions involving Ocwen.
In Aug. 2014, Ocwen disclosed that it received a subpoena from the SEC over its relationship with several of its affiliated companies, including Altisource Residential (RESI), Altisource Asset Management Corp (AAMC), Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), and Home Loan Servicing Solutions.
At issue in that SEC investigation was the fact that Ocwen founder William Erbey served as chairman of the board of Ocwen, Altisource Residential, Altisource Asset Management, Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Home Loan Servicing Solutions, and whether conflicts of interest subsequently existed.
The relationship between those companies was also the subject of intense investigation from the New York Department of Financial Services, which also questioned whether conflicts of interest existed due to Erbey’s roles at each company.
The NYDFS investigation ultimately led to Erbey’s resignation from his positions with each company and a $150 million fine for Ocwen.
According to the new SEC charges, from 2012 to 2014, HLSS stated that it required its chairman, Erbey, to recuse himself from transactions involving the company and other related parties to avoid conflicts of interest.
The SEC investigation found that statement to be untrue.
The SEC investigation revealed that not only did HLSS have no written policies or procedures requiring recusals on related party transaction, Erbey also approved “many” transactions between HLSS and Ocwen.
Additionally, the SEC found that HLSS misstated its net income in 2012, 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, due to using accounting methodology that misstated the value of the company’s primary asset, the billions of dollars in mortgage servicing rights it purchased from Ocwen.
According to the SEC, HLSS’ accounting methodology did not conform to generally accepted accounting principles, often referred to as GAAP.
The SEC said that HLSS disclosed that it valued these assets at their “fair value,” but the SEC investigation found that the company’s actual approach was to assign a value equal to their carrying value, provided the carrying value was within 5% of a third-party’s fair market value estimate.
According to the SEC, HLSS’ senior management and its audit committee “failed to adequately review” whether the valuation methodology complied with GAAP despite internal concerns that the valuation methodology might result in material differences between the carrying value and the third-party’s fair value estimate.
“As a result of its lax internal controls environment, HLSS failed to properly value its primary asset and to make accurate and complete disclosures in its public filings,” said Michael Osnato, chief of the SEC enforcement division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit. “It failed to meet requirements that are fundamental to ensuring that investors receive reliable information, including in matters involving complex assets.”
As a result of the investigation, HLSS agreed to pay a $1.5 million penalty to settle the SEC’s charges and agreed to cease and desist from disclosure and books and recordkeeping violations.
SEC fines Ocwen $2 million for misstating financials; Altisource, HLSS relationships
Used flawed MSR valuation methods
Ocwen Financial will pay a $2 million fine after a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation found that the nonbank misstated it financials on several occasions by using a “flawed, undisclosed methodology” to value mortgage servicing rights that were sold to an Ocwen-associated company, Home Loan Servicing Solutions.
Last year, Home Loan Servicing Solutions agreed to a $1.5 million fine for misstated its net income in 2012, 2013 and the first quarter of 2014, due to using accounting methodology that misstated the value of the company’s primary asset, the billions of dollars in mortgage servicing rights it purchased from Ocwen.
According to the SEC, HLSS’ accounting methodology did not conform to generally accepted accounting principles, often referred to as GAAP.
The SEC said that HLSS disclosed that it valued these assets at their “fair value,” but the SEC investigation found that the company’s actual approach was to assign a value equal to their carrying value, provided the carrying value was within 5% of a third-party’s fair market value estimate.
Now, Ocwen is settling with the SEC for similar charges.
According to the SEC, its investigation found that Ocwen “inaccurately disclosed” to investors that it independently valued these assets at fair value under GAAP.
“In fact, Ocwen merely used the valuation performed by a related party to which it sold the rights to service certain mortgages that remained a financing liability in Ocwen’s accounting,” the SEC said.
“Ocwen’s audit committee failed to review the methodology with company management or its outside auditor, and the related party’s valuation deviated from fair value measures,” the SEC continued.
According to the SEC, Ocwen then misstated its net income for the last three quarters of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014.
In August 2014, Ocwen said that it would be restating its 2013 and 2014 earnings after its auditor found a potential “material weakness” in in the way it valued and recorded a financial transaction.
The material weakness turned to be a flaw in Ocwen’s system, the SEC said.
“Ocwen’s filings led investors to believe the company was valuing complex mortgage assets using GAAP rather than relying on a related company’s accounting methodology that later proved to be flawed,” said Michael Osnato, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit. “Ocwen released inaccurate financial statements because its internal controls were inadequate and its audit committee failed to scrutinize whether the methodology was an appropriate way to measure fair value.”
The SEC’s investigation also found that Ocwen’s close relationship with Altisource Residential, Altisource Asset Management Corp, Altisource Portfolio Solutions, and Home Loan Servicing Solutions and William Erbey’s role as the chairman of each company contributed to the faulty financial dealings.
Erbey founded Ocwen, and served as chairman of the board of Ocwen, Altisource Residential, Altisource Asset Management, Altisource Portfolio Solutions and Home Loan Servicing Solutions until the relationship between those companies became the subject of intense investigation from the New York Department of Financial Services.
The NYDFS investigation ultimately led to Erbey’s resignation from his positions with each company and a $150 million fine for Ocwen.
According to the SEC, Ocwen’s internal controls also failed to prevent “conflicts of interest” involving Erbey
The SEC said that Ocwen disclosed to investors that its executive chairman was required to recuse himself from transactions with related companies where he also served in a leadership position.
But Ocwen had no written policies or procedures on recusals for related party transactions, and the recusal practice that existed was flawed, inconsistent, and ad hoc, the SEC said.
According to the SEC, Erbey was able to approve transactions from both sides.
The SEC cited a specific example involving a $75 million bridge loan to Ocwen from Altisource Portfolio Solutions.
According to the SEC consent order, Erbey, in his role as executive chairman of Ocwen, voted to approve Ocwen’s entry into the loan agreement.
Erbey was also chairman of Altisource, but he recused himself from the decision to approve the loan on the Altisource side, the SEC order stated.
However, Erbey reviewed and approved the Altisource board presentation before it was circulated to the Altisource Board of Directors for the vote, the SEC said.
As part of the settlement, Ocwen did not admit to or deny the SEC’s findings.
Additionally, neither Ocwen nor any of its personnel were charged with fraud and there is no finding that Ocwen shareholders suffered a loss due to the referenced actions.
“We are pleased with the resolution of this U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s investigation,” Ocwen said in a statement.
“As previously disclosed in our October 2015 SEC 10-Q filing, funds have already been reserved to address this settlement,” Ocwen’s statement continued. “Ocwen remains committed to full compliance with all legal and regulatory requirements and will continue to fully cooperate with regulators on any matter brought to its attention.”
Click here to read the full SEC order of the charges and settlement with Ocwen.
[Correction: This article has been updated to more accurately reflect the SEC’s findings surrounding the $75 million bridge loan between Ocwen and Altisource.]
Here’s what Ocwen and William Erbey did wrong
A deeper dive into the NYDFS allegations and settlement
Throughout 2014, Ocwen Financial (OCN) has run afoul of regulatory agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York Department of Financial Services, but receiving letters from the NYDFS and subpoenas from the SEC is nothing compared to Ocwen’s chairman being forced out and the company being ordered to pay $150 million to homeowners.
Many industry observers were waiting for the other shoe to drop when it came to Ocwen, and Monday it finally fell, right onto the head of William Erbey, Ocwen’s now-former chairman.
In a shocking development, the NYDFS forced Erbey to resign from his position as chairman of the board of directors of Ocwen, and each of its four related companies: Altisource Portfolio Solutions S.A. (ASPS), Altisource Residential Corporation (RESI), Altisource Asset Management Corporation (AAMC), and Home Loan Servicing Solutions, Ltd. (HLSS), over allegations into Ocwen’s servicing practices and its relationships with its affiliated companies.
Ocwen was also ordered to pay $150 million in “hard-dollar” assistance, including $50 million in direct, hard-dollar restitution payments to former and current Ocwen homeowners in New York for Ocwen’s handling of foreclosures.
Among the charges levied at Ocwen by the NYDFS was that Ocwen’s servicing platform and loss mitigation structure had significant deficiencies, including robo-signing, inaccurate affidavits and failure to properly validate document execution processes, missing documentation, wrongful foreclosure, failure to properly maintain books and records, and initiation of foreclosure actions without proper legal standing.
And that doesn’t even include the backdating of letters to borrowers, which the NYDFS accused Ocwen of doing in a letter sent to the company in October.
A deeper look at the NYDFS investigation reveals just what Ocwen did wrong and the additional sanctions that could crush Ocwen’s business.
First and foremost, Ocwen is now forbidden from acquiring any additional mortgage servicing rights without approval from the NYDFS. From the NYDFS: “Ocwen may not begin to acquire additional MSRs until and unless it receives prior approval from NYDFS, and meets benchmarks developed by the independent monitor concerning the adequacy of Ocwen’s onboarding process for newly acquired MSRs and its ability to adequately service both those newly acquired MSRs and its existing loan portfolio.”
So what led to Erbey being forced out, the company being forced to fork over $150 million and led to the company’s banishment from the MSR acquisition business?
According to the NYDFS, Ocwen’s core servicing functions rely on “inadequate systems.”
As part of a two-year investigation into Ocwen’s servicing practices, the NYDFS placed in independent monitor with Ocwen to review Ocwen’s practices.
“In the course of its review, the Monitor determined that Ocwen’s information technology systems are a patchwork of legacy systems and systems inherited from acquired companies, many of which are incompatible,” the NYDFS said.
“A frequent occurrence is that a fix to one system creates unintended consequences in other systems. As a result, Ocwen regularly gives borrowers incorrect or outdated information, sends borrowers backdated letters, unreliably tracks data for investors, and maintains inaccurate records.”
The NYDFS also details how convoluted Ocwen’s servicing practices are within the company itself. According to the NYDFS, Ocwen uses comment codes entered either manually or automatically to service its portfolio. Each of those codes initiates a process, such as sending a delinquency letter to a borrower, or referring a loan to foreclosure counsel, but as a result of Ocwen’s precipitous growth, the company now has more than 8,400 of those codes.
“Often, due to insufficient integration following acquisitions of other servicers, there are duplicate codes that perform the same function,” the NYDFS said. “Despite these issues, Ocwen continues to rely on those systems to service its portfolio of distressed loans.”
The NYDFS also said that Ocwen is overly reliant on technology, which has led to the company employing fewer trained personnel than its competitors.
And many of those undertrained personnel are located overseas. In fact, a recent report from Fitch Ratings showed that Ocwen has 73% of its servicing staff offshore, operating out of India, the Philippines and Uruguay.
According to the NYDFS, the prevalence of Ocwen’s offshore servicing staff is a serious problem.
“Ocwen’s Chief Financial Officer recently acknowledged, in reference to its offshore customer care personnel, that Ocwen is simply ‘training people to read the scripts and the dialogue engines with feeling,’” the NYDFS said.
The NYDFS said that Ocwen requires its offshore staff to follow the scripts closely, and has penalized and terminated customer support staff who failed to stick to the script.
“In some cases, this policy has frustrated struggling borrowers who have complex issues that exceed the bounds of a script and have issues speaking with representatives at Ocwen capable of addressing their concerns,” the NYDFS said.
“Moreover, Ocwen’s customer care representatives in many cases provide conflicting responses to a borrower’s question,” the NYDFS continued.
“Representatives have also failed in many cases to record in Ocwen’s servicing system the nature of the concerns that a borrower has expressed, leading to inaccurate records of the issues raised by the borrower.”
But that’s just the beginning of Ocwen’s issues. The NYDFS investigation also “uncovered a number of conflicts of interest” between Ocwen and its affiliated companies, something that has been on the radar of the NYDFS since February.
According to the NYDFS, Erbey did not recuse himself from the approval process of transactions between the related companies. “Mr. Erbey, who owns approximately 15% of Ocwen’s stock, and nearly double that percentage of the stock of Altisource Portfolio, has participated in the approval of a number of transactions between the two companies or from which Altisource received some benefit, including the renewal of Ocwen’s forced placed insurance program in early 2014,” the NYDFS said.
That’s the very forced placed insurance program that Altisource announced it was discontinuing in November, citing “uncertainties with industry-wide litigation and the regulatory environment.”
The NYDFS also said that the dealings between Ocwen and Altisource led to increased fees being passed onto consumers. “In one example, Altisource Portfolio subsidiary Hubzu, an online auction site, hosts nearly all Ocwen auctions,” the NYDFS said. “In certain circumstances, Hubzu has charged more for its services to Ocwen than to other customers — charges which are then passed on to borrowers and investors.”
And the conflicts of interest don’t just stop at Erbey’s desk. The NYDFS said that during its review, it discovered that Ocwen’s Chief Risk Officer also served as the Chief Risk Officer of Altisource Portfolio.
“The Chief Risk Officer reported directly to Mr. Erbey in both capacities,” the NYDFS said. “This individual seemed not to appreciate the potential conflicts of interest posed by this dual role, which was of particular concern given his role as Chief Risk Officer.”
Now, as a result of all of these failings, Erbey is out as Ocwen’s chairman, the company can’t acquire any more MSRs without approval from the NYDFS and the company must also pay $150 million to homeowners.
But that’s not all Ocwen is now required to do for homeowners.
Additionally, Ocwen must also provide customer relief in the following forms:
- Ocwen will provide upon request by a New York borrower that borrower’s complete loan file, which includes all information from all systems, including comment codes, at no cost to the borrower, regardless of whether such borrower’s loan is still serviced by Ocwen
- Ocwen will provide every New York borrower who is denied a modification, short sale, or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, a detailed explanation of the reasons for denial
- For all New York borrowers who have been reported negatively by Ocwen to credit agencies since January 1, 2010, Ocwen will provide upon request at no cost a copy of such borrower’s credit report (including credit scores), regardless of whether such borrower’s loan is still serviced by Ocwen
Additionally, the independent monitor placed at Ocwen by the NYDFS will have oversight over “significant operational reforms” at Ocwen. Included in those is:
- Information technology systems and personnel, including with respect to record keeping and borrower communications
- Number of personnel and the training and expertise of its personnel in all servicing operations
- Onboarding process for newly acquired mortgage servicing rights, including Ocwen’s ability to onboard newly acquired MSRs without interruption to servicing newly acquired loans or its existing loan portfolio
- Controls in identifying and correcting errors made by Ocwen’s personnel or system
- Risk management functions
- Contracts or proposed contracts with third parties, including but not limited to related parties
- Fees charged by Ocwen to borrowers or mortgage investors
- The Ocwen borrower experience.
Ocwen’s board of directors is also now required to consult with the monitor to determine whether any additional members of senior management should be terminated or whether additional officers should be retained to achieve the goals of complying with the agreement — and all other applicable laws, regulations, and agreements — as well as creating a corporate culture of ethics, integrity, compliance, and responsiveness to borrowers, the NYDFS said.
And most notable in the agreement is this: “Nothing in today’s agreement shall excuse Ocwen from paying additional required restitution to any borrowers harmed by its improper or illegal conduct, including the backdating of letters to borrowers.”
So Ocwen isn’t anywhere close to being out of the woods yet, for backdating letters or for anything else it may have done.
Ocwen’s stock, by the way, closed at $16.01 on Monday, down $5.89 (and nearly 27%) for the day. For the year, Ocwen’s stock is down 71.61%, costing Ocwen shareholders more than $40 per share.
2015
Altisource Residential CEO Ashish Pandey stepping down
Current president George Ellison to take over July 1
Published: June 18, 2015
[Correction: A previous version of this article stated that Altisource Residential was spun off of Ocwen Financial. Altisource Residential was actually spun off of Altisource Portfolio Solutions. The article is now updated.]
Ashish Pandey, who has served as the chief executive officer of Altisource Residential Corporation (RESI) since the company was spun off from Altisource Portfolio Solutions (ASPS), in 2012, is stepping down
The company announced Pandey’s departure in a release sent to investors late Thursday.
According to the release, Pandey’s last day with Altisource Residential will be June 30. The release states that Pandey is leaving Altisource Residential to “pursue personal interests” in India.
Filling Pandey’s role as CEO will be George Ellison, who joined the company in Feb. 2015 and previously served as the Altisource Residential’s president.Ellison also serves as the CEO of Altisource Asset Management Corporation (AAMC), which, according to the company’s website, exists solely to provide “portfolio management and corporate governance services” to Altisource Residential.
According to the companies, Pandey will also step down from his position as executive chairman of the board of Altisource Asset Management Corporation.
Ellison will be elevated to chairman of the board of directors of Altisource Asset Management Corporation to replace Pandey.
“We wish Ashish well in his new endeavors and thank him for his valuable contributions in building Residential’s business,” stated David Reiner, chairman of Altisource Residential. “We are excited to continue Residential’s growth story under the leadership of George Ellison.”
Pandey previously served as chairman of both companies after the companies’ founder, William Erbey, was forced to resign from his positions as chairman of Ocwen Financial (OCN), Altisource Portfolio Solutions, Altisource Residential Corporation, Altisource Asset Management Corporation, and Home Loan Servicing Solutions, as part of a $150 million settlement with the New York Department of Financial Services over allegations into the company’s servicing practices and its relationships with its affiliated companies.
Ellison joined Altisource Asset Management in February from Bank of America (BAC). During his 19 years at Bank of America, Ellison held several executive roles. Most recently, Ellison was the executive leading the team that managed the valuation and disposition of Bank of America’s legacy mortgage loan portfolio and a leading member of Bank of America’s Special Initiatives team that worked to resolve Bank of America’s representation and warranty litigation.
While at Bank of America, Ellison was a named defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Federal Housing Finance Agency against Bank of America over claims that the bank sold toxic mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from 2005 to 2007. That lawsuit was settled in March 2014 for $9.33 billion.
Altisource Asset Management Corporation also announced that it is adding depth and hiring senior personnel in several areas, including five recent senior hires in finance, portfolio management and capital markets to strengthen its management and support teams.
Ellison said that the companies wish Pandey well, adding that the companies’ foundations are strong due to Pandey’s efforts.
“We believe the future is bright for Residential in large part because of the work and vision of Ashish,” Ellison said. “Although Ashish’ contributions and vision will be missed, we have undertaken significant efforts to strengthen AAMC’s talent pool with a deeply experienced team to continue and evolve Residential’s business and growth strategy.”
