Note 2 — Securitizations and Variable Interest Entities

We securitize, sell and service forward and reverse residential mortgage loans and regularly transfer financial assets in connection with asset-backed financing arrangements. We have aggregated these securitizations and asset-backed financing arrangements into two groups: (1) securitizations of residential mortgage loans and (2) financings of advances on loans serviced for others.

We have determined that the special purpose entities (SPEs) created in connection with our match funded advance financing facilities are VIEs for which we are the primary beneficiary.

Securitizations of Residential Mortgage Loans

Currently, we securitize forward and reverse residential mortgage loans involving the GSEs and Ginnie Mae and loans insured by the FHA or VA. We retain the right to service these loans and receive servicing fees based upon the securitized loan balances and certain ancillary fees, all of which are reported in Servicing and subservicing fees in the consolidated statements of operations.

Transfers of Forward Loans

We sell or securitize forward loans that we originate or that we purchase from third parties, generally in the form of mortgage-backed securities guaranteed by the GSEs or Ginnie Mae. Securitization usually occurs within 30 days of loan closing or purchase. We retain the servicing rights associated with the transferred loans and receive a servicing fee for services provided. We act only as a fiduciary and do not have a variable interest in the securitization trusts. As a result, we account for these transactions as sales upon transfer.

We report the gain or loss on the transfer of the loans held for sale in Gain on loans held for sale, net in the consolidated statements of operations along with the changes in fair value of the loans and the gain or loss on any related derivatives. We include all changes in loans held for sale and related derivative balances in operating activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

The following table presents a summary of cash flows received from and paid to securitization trusts related to transfers accounted for as sales that were outstanding during the years ended December 31:



	2016			2015			2014
Proceeds received from securitizations	$	5,197,071		$	4,970,454		$	5,265,183
Servicing fees collected	14,616			29,239			25,438
Purchases of previously transferred assets, net of claims reimbursed	(1,271		)	(2,863		)	4,973
	$	5,210,416		$	4,996,830		$	5,295,594

In connection with these transfers, we retained MSRs of $37.2 million, $36.0 million and $39.8 million during 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

Certain obligations arise from the agreements associated with our transfers of loans. Under these agreements, we may be obligated to repurchase the loans, or otherwise indemnify or reimburse the investor or insurer for losses incurred due to material breach of contractual representations and warranties.

The following table presents the carrying amounts of our assets that relate to our continuing involvement with forward loans that we have transferred with servicing rights retained as well as our maximum exposure to loss including the UPB of the transferred loans at December 31:



	2016		2015
Carrying value of assets:
Mortgage servicing rights, at amortized cost	$	94,492	$	54,729
Mortgage servicing rights, at fair value	233		236
Advances and match funded advances	37,336		26,968
UPB of loans transferred	10,485,697		7,471,025
Maximum exposure to loss	$	10,617,758	$	7,552,958

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, 7.6% and 8.2%, respectively, of the transferred residential loans that we service were 60 days or more past due. During 2016 and 2015, there were $0.3 million and $0.5 million, respectively, of charge-offs, net of recoveries, associated with these transferred loans related to our standard representations and warranties obligations.

Transfers of Reverse Mortgages

We are an approved issuer of Ginnie Mae Home Equity Conversion Mortgage-Backed Securities (HMBS) that are guaranteed by Ginnie Mae. We originate Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECM, or reverse mortgages) that are insured by the FHA. We then pool the loans into HMBS that we sell into the secondary market with servicing rights retained. We have determined that loan transfers in the HMBS program do not meet the definition of a participating interest because of the servicing requirements in the product that require the issuer/servicer to absorb some level of interest rate risk, cash flow timing risk and incidental credit risk. As a result, the transfers of the HECM loans do not qualify for sale accounting, and therefore, we account for these transfers as financings. Under this accounting treatment, the HECM loans are classified as Loans held for investment - Reverse mortgages, at fair value, on our consolidated balance sheets. We record the proceeds from the transfer of assets as secured borrowings (HMBS-related borrowings) in Financing liabilities and recognize no gain or loss on the transfer. Holders of participating interests in the HMBS have no recourse against the assets of Ocwen, except with respect to standard representations and warranties and our contractual obligation to service the HECM loans and the HMBS.

We measure the HECM loans and HMBS-related borrowings at fair value on a recurring basis. The changes in fair value of the HECM loans and HMBS-related borrowings are included in Other revenues in our consolidated statements of operations. Included in net fair value gains on the HECM loans and related HMBS borrowings are the interest income that we expect to be collected on the HECM loans and the interest expense that we expect to be paid on the HMBS-related borrowings. We report originations and collections of HECM loans in investing activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows. We report net fair value gains on HECM loans and the related HMBS borrowings as an adjustment to the net cash provided by or used in operating activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows. Proceeds from securitizations of HECM loans and payments on HMBS-related borrowings are included in financing activities in the consolidated statements of cash flows.

At December 31, 2016 and 2015, we had HMBS-related borrowings of $3.4 billion and $2.4 billion, respectively. Loans held for investment - Reverse mortgages, at fair value were $3.6 billion and $2.5 billion at December 31, 2016 and 2015, respectively. At December 31, 2016, Loans held for investment included $81.3 million of originated loans that had not yet been pledged as collateral. See Note 4 — Fair Value and Note 13 — Borrowings for additional information on HMBS-related borrowings and Loans held for investment - Reverse mortgages.

Financings of Advances on Loans Serviced for Others

Match funded advances on loans serviced for others result from our transfers of residential loan servicing advances to SPEs in exchange for cash. We consolidate these SPEs because we have determined that Ocwen is the primary beneficiary of the SPE. These SPEs issue debt supported by collections on the transferred advances, and we refer to this debt as Match funded liabilities.

We make the transfers to these SPEs under the terms of our advance financing facility agreements. We classify the transferred advances on our consolidated balance sheets as Match funded advances and the related liabilities as Match funded liabilities. The SPEs use collections of the pledged advances to repay principal and interest and to pay the expenses of the SPE. Holders of the debt issued by these entities have recourse only to the assets of the SPE for satisfaction of the debt. The assets and liabilities of the advance financing SPEs are comprised solely of Match funded advances, Debt service accounts, Match funded liabilities and amounts due to affiliates. Amounts due to affiliates are eliminated in consolidation in our consolidated balance sheets.