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Regulatory Requirements | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2016
Brokers and Dealers [Abstract] |
Regulatory Requirements | Note 17 – Regulatory Requirements Our business is subject to extensive regulation by federal, state and local governmental authorities, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the SEC and various state agencies that license, audit and conduct examinations of our loan servicing, origination and collection activities. In addition, we operate under a number of regulatory settlements that subject us to ongoing monitoring or reporting. From time to time, we also receive requests from federal, state and local agencies for records, documents and information relating to the policies, procedures and practices of our loan servicing, origination and collection activities. The GSEs and their conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA), Ginnie Mae, the United States Treasury Department, various investors, non-Agency securitization trustees and others also subject us to periodic reviews and audits. In the current regulatory environment, we have faced and expect to continue to face increased regulatory and public scrutiny as an organization as well as stricter and more comprehensive regulation of the entire mortgage sector. We continue to work diligently to assess and understand the implications of the regulatory environment in which we operate and to meet the requirements of the changing environment in which we operate. We devote substantial resources to regulatory compliance, while, at the same time, striving to meet the needs and expectations of our customers, clients and other stakeholders. Our failure to comply with applicable federal, state and local laws, regulations and licensing requirements could lead to any of the following (i) loss of our licenses and approvals to engage in our servicing and lending businesses, (ii) governmental investigations and enforcement actions, (iii) administrative fines and penalties and litigation, (iv) civil and criminal liability, including class action lawsuits and actions to recover incentive and other payments made by governmental entities, (v) breaches of covenants and representations under our servicing, debt or other agreements, (vi) damage to our reputation, (vii) inability to raise capital or (viii) inability to execute on our business strategy. In addition to amounts paid to resolve regulatory matters, we could be required to pay for the costs of third party firms to monitor our compliance with such resolutions. We have recognized $162.6 million in such third party monitoring costs from January 1, 2014 through September 30, 2016 in connection with our settlements with the California Department of Business Oversight (CA DBO) and the New York Department of Financial Services (NY DFS) and in connection with our National Mortgage Settlement. We must comply with a large number of federal, state and local consumer protection laws including, among others, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), the Fair Credit Reporting Act, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the Homeowners Protection Act, the Federal Trade Commission Act, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and state foreclosure laws. These statutes apply to many facets of our business, including loan origination, default servicing and collections, use of credit reports, safeguarding of non-public personally identifiable information about our customers, foreclosure and claims handling, investment of and interest payments on escrow balances and escrow payment features, and mandate certain disclosures and notices to borrowers. These requirements can and do change as statutes and regulations are enacted, promulgated, amended, interpreted and enforced. The recent trend among federal, state and local lawmakers and regulators has been toward increasing laws, regulations and investigative proceedings with regard to residential real estate lenders and servicers. The CFPB directly affects the regulation of residential mortgage servicing in a number of ways. First, the CFPB has rule making authority with respect to many of the federal consumer protection laws applicable to mortgage lenders and servicers, including TILA and RESPA, as reflected in the new rules for servicing and origination that went into effect in 2014, and the TILA/RESPA Integrated Disclosure rules, also known as TRID. Second, the CFPB has supervision, examination and enforcement authority over consumer financial products and services offered by certain non-depository institutions and large insured depository institutions. The CFPB’s jurisdiction includes those persons originating, brokering or servicing residential mortgage loans and those persons performing loan modification or foreclosure relief services in connection with such loans. Accordingly, we are subject to supervision, examination and enforcement by the CFPB. As previously disclosed, Ocwen has received several Civil Investigative Demands, or investigative subpoenas, from the CFPB seeking information about our servicing practices followed by a Notice and Opportunity to Respond and Advise (NORA) letter from the CFPB under which the CFPB (1) notified us that the CFPB’s Office of Enforcement is considering recommending that the CFPB take legal action against us relating to compliance with federal laws pertaining to our servicing practices and (2) provided us with the opportunity to make a NORA submission, which is a written statement setting forth reasons of law, policy and fact as to why we do not believe such action is appropriate. We made a NORA submission detailing why such action would not be appropriate. Subsequently, we have been informed that the enforcement staff has been authorized to engage with us regarding the resolution of their concerns, which could result in a Consent Order and could entail payment of monetary amounts by us or injunctive relief. If we are unable to resolve such concerns, and the CFPB were to bring an enforcement action against us, such action could have a material adverse impact on our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. We expect to continue to invest significantly in our operational platform and risk and compliance management systems in order to comply with these laws and regulations. Furthermore, there may be additional federal or state laws enacted that place additional obligations on servicers and originators of residential mortgage loans. Ocwen has various subsidiaries, including OLS, Homeward and Liberty, that are licensed to originate and/or service forward and reverse mortgage loans in the jurisdictions in which they operate. Our licensed entities are required to renew their licenses, typically on an annual basis, and to do so they must satisfy the license renewal requirements of each jurisdiction, which generally include financial requirements such as providing audited financial statements or satisfying minimum net worth requirements and non-financial requirements such as examinations as to the licensee’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Failure to satisfy any of the requirements to which our licensed entities are subject could result in a variety of regulatory actions ranging from a fine, a directive requiring a certain step to be taken, a suspension or ultimately a revocation of a license, any of which could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition. The minimum net worth requirements to which our licensed entities are subject are unique to each state and type of license. The most restrictive of these net worth requirements is based on the outstanding UPB of the owned and subserviced portfolio of OLS and was $475.3 million at September 30, 2016. We believe our licensed entities are currently in compliance with all of their minimum net worth requirements. OLS, Homeward and Liberty are also parties to seller/servicer agreements and/or subject to guidelines and regulations (collectively, seller/servicer obligations) with one or more of the GSEs, HUD, FHA, VA and Ginnie Mae. These seller/servicer obligations include financial covenants that include capital requirements related to tangible net worth, as defined by the applicable agency, an obligation to provide audited consolidated financial statements within 90 days of the applicable entity’s fiscal year end as well as extensive requirements regarding servicing, selling and other matters. To the extent that these requirements are not met or waived, the applicable agency may, at its option, utilize a variety of remedies including requirements to deposit funds as security for our obligations, sanctions, suspension or even termination of approved seller/servicer status, which would prohibit future originations or securitizations of forward or reverse mortgage loans or servicing for the applicable agency. To date, none of these counterparties has communicated any material sanction, suspension or prohibition in connection with our seller/servicer obligations. We believe we were in compliance with the related net worth requirements at September 30, 2016. Our non-Agency servicing agreements also contain requirements regarding servicing practices and other matters, and a failure to comply with these requirements could have an adverse impact on our business. Transfers of mortgage servicing are subject to regulation under federal consumer finance laws, including CFPB rules implementing RESPA that require servicers to, among other things, maintain policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to facilitate the transfer of accurate information and documents during mortgage servicing transfers and properly evaluate loss mitigation applications that are in process at the time of transfer. The CFPB has advised mortgage servicers that its examiners will be carefully reviewing servicers’ compliance with these and other regulations applicable to servicing transfers, and state mortgage regulators have supervisory power over any licensed institutions involved in a transaction. Accordingly, we have been and will be required to devote time and resources to ensuring compliance and engaging with such regulators in connection with our recent sales of MSRs and any future transfers of mortgage servicing. There are a number of foreign laws and regulations that are applicable to our operations in India and the Philippines, including acts that govern licensing, employment, safety, taxes, insurance and the laws and regulations that govern the creation, continuation and the winding up of companies as well as the relationships between shareholders, our corporate entities, the public and the government in these countries. Non-compliance with the laws and regulations of India or the Philippines could result in (i) restrictions on our operations in these counties, (ii) fines, penalties or sanctions or (iii) reputational damage.

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