Note 1 - Organization, Business Environment and Basis of Presentation

Organization

Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) (Ocwen, we, us and our) is a non-bank mortgage servicer and originator providing solutions through its primary operating subsidiaries, PHH Mortgage Corporation (PMC) and Liberty Home Equity Solutions, Inc. (Liberty). We are headquartered in West Palm Beach, Florida with offices in the United States (U.S.) and the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) and operations in India and the Philippines. Ocwen is a Florida corporation organized in February 1988.

Ocwen directly or indirectly owns all of the outstanding common stock of its operating subsidiaries, including PMC since its acquisition on October 4, 2018, Liberty, Ocwen Financial Solutions Private Limited (OFSPL) and Ocwen Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (OMS).

We perform servicing activities on behalf of other servicers (subservicing), the largest being New Residential Investment Corp. (NRZ), and investors (primary and master servicing), including the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (collectively, the GSEs), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and private-label securitizations (non-Agency). As a subservicer or primary servicer, we may be required to make advances for certain property tax and insurance premium payments, default and property maintenance payments and principal and interest payments on behalf of delinquent borrowers to mortgage loan investors before recovering them from borrowers. Most, but not all, of our subservicing agreements provide for us to be reimbursed for any such advances by the owner of the servicing rights. Advances made by us as primary servicer are generally recovered from the borrower or the mortgage loan investor. As master servicer, we collect mortgage payments from primary servicers and distribute the funds to investors in the mortgage-backed securities. To the extent the primary servicer does not advance the scheduled principal and interest, as master servicer we are responsible for advancing the shortfall, subject to certain limitations.

We originate, sell and securitize conventional (conforming to the underwriting standards of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac; collectively referred to as Agency loans) and government-insured (Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)) forward mortgages, generally servicing retained. The GSEs or Ginnie Mae guarantee these mortgage securitizations. We originate HECM loans, or reverse mortgages, that are insured by the FHA and are an approved issuer of HMBS that are guaranteed by Ginnie Mae.

We had a total of approximately 5,600 employees at September 30, 2019 of which approximately 3,500 were located in India and approximately 500 were based in the Philippines. Our operations in India and the Philippines primarily provide internal support services, principally to our loan servicing business and our corporate functions. Of our foreign-based employees, nearly 80% were engaged in supporting our loan servicing operations as of September 30, 2019.

Business Environment

We are facing certain challenges and uncertainties that could have significant adverse effects on our business, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations. The ability of management to appropriately address these challenges and uncertainties in a timely manner is critical to our ability to operate our business successfully.

Losses have significantly eroded stockholders’ equity and weakened our financial condition. Our near-term priority is to return to profitability in the shortest timeframe possible within an appropriate risk and compliance environment. If we execute on our key business initiatives, we believe we will drive stronger financial performance.

First, we have successfully executed the acquisition of PHH Corporation (PHH) and continue our planned integration of PHH ’s business with ours. See Note 2 - Business Acquisition for additional information regarding the acquisition of PHH.

Second, we must re-engineer our cost structure to go beyond eliminating redundant costs through the integration process. Our cost re-engineering plans address organizational, process and control redesign and automation, human capital planning, off-shore utilization, strategic sourcing and facilities rationalization. Our initiatives are targeted at increasing the degree of automation of our processes, leveraging our single servicing platform and technology, and through innovation. We believe these steps are necessary in order to simplify our operations and drive stronger financial performance.

Third, we must manage the size of our servicing portfolio through expanding our lending business and permissible acquisitions of MSRs that are prudent and well-executed with appropriate financial return targets. During the first nine months of 2019, we closed MSR acquisitions with $11.9 billion unpaid principal balance (UPB).

Fourth, we must manage our balance sheet to ensure adequate liquidity and provide a solid platform for executing on our other key business initiatives. On July 1, 2019, we established a financing facility secured by MSRs that provides up to $300.0 million in committed borrowing capacity. We believe this facility will enable the funding of the majority of our near term MSR acquisition initiatives. We intend to extend, renew or replace our SSTL that matures in December 2020 and must evaluate capital structure options that we believe will most effectively allow us to execute on our business plan.

Finally, we must fulfill our regulatory commitments and resolve our remaining legal and regulatory matters on satisfactory terms. Our business, operating results and financial condition have been significantly impacted in recent periods by regulatory actions against us and by significant litigation matters. Should the number or scope of regulatory or legal actions against us increase or expand or should we be unable to reach reasonable resolutions in existing regulatory and legal matters, our business, reputation, financial condition, liquidity and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected, even if we are successful in our ongoing efforts to drive stronger financial performance. See Note 19 – Regulatory Requirements and Note 21 – Contingencies for further information.

In recent periods, Ocwen has incurred significant losses as a result of declines in the fair value of our MSRs. Further interest rate decreases, prepayment speed increases and changes to other fair value inputs or assumptions could result in further fair value declines and hamper our ability to return to profitability. Starting in September 2019, we have implemented a hedging strategy to partially offset the changes in fair value of our net MSR portfolio. See Note 15 – Derivative Financial Instruments and Hedging Activities for further information.

Our ability to execute on these key initiatives is not certain and is dependent on the successful execution of several complex actions, including our ability to grow our lending business and acquire MSRs with appropriate financial return targets, and execute on further organizational redesign and headcount reductions, as well as the absence of significant unforeseen costs, including regulatory or legal costs, that could negatively impact our cost re-engineering efforts, and our ability to extend, renew or replace our debt agreements in the ordinary course, including our SSTL. There can be no assurances that the desired strategic and financial benefits of these actions will be realized.

Regarding the current maturities of our borrowings, as of September 30, 2019 we have approximately $808.7 million of debt outstanding under facilities coming due in the next 12 months. Portions of our match funded advance facilities and all of our mortgage loan warehouse facilities have 364-day terms consistent with market practice. We have historically renewed these facilities on or before their expiration in the ordinary course of financing our business. We expect to renew, replace or extend all such borrowings to the extent necessary to finance our business on or prior to their respective maturities consistent with our historical experience.

Our debt agreements contain various qualitative and quantitative events of default provisions that include, among other things, noncompliance with covenants, breach of representations, or the occurrence of a material adverse change. If a lender were to allege an event of default and we are unable to avoid, remedy or secure a waiver of such alleged default, we could be subject to adverse actions by our lenders that could have a material adverse impact on us. In addition, PMC and Liberty are parties to seller/servicer agreements and/or subject to guidelines and regulations (collectively, seller/servicer obligations) with one or more of the GSEs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), FHA, VA and Ginnie Mae. To the extent these requirements are not met or waived, the applicable agency may, at its option, utilize a variety of remedies including requirements to provide certain information or take actions at the direction of the applicable agency, 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. Any of these actions could have a material adverse impact on us. See Note 13 – Borrowings, Note 19 – Regulatory Requirements and Note 21 – Contingencies for further information.

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with the instructions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to Form 10-Q and SEC Regulation S-X, Article 10, Rule 10-01 for interim financial statements. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) for complete financial statements. In our opinion, the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation. The results of operations and other data for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2019 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any other interim period or for the year ending December 31, 2019. The unaudited consolidated financial statements presented herein should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

Use of Estimates and Assumptions

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires that management make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Such estimates and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those that relate to fair value measurements, income taxes, the provision for losses that may arise from litigation proceedings, and our going concern evaluation. In developing estimates and assumptions, management uses all available information; however, actual results could materially differ from those estimates and assumptions.

Reclassifications

Certain amounts in the unaudited consolidated statement of cash flows for the nine months ended September 30, 2018 have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation as follows:


•	Within the Cash flows from operating activities section, we reclassified Amortization of debt issuance costs of $2.3 million to Other, net.


•	Within the Cash flows from financing activities section, we reclassified repayments of the SSTL of $62.6 million from Repayment of mortgage loan warehouse facilities and other secured borrowings to a new separate line item (Repayment of SSTL borrowings).

These reclassifications had no impact on our consolidated cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities.

Recently Adopted Accounting Standards

Leases (ASU 2016-02, ASU 2018-10, ASU 2018-11 and ASU 2019-01)

This ASU requires a lessee to recognize right-of-use (ROU) assets and lease liabilities on the balance sheet, regardless of whether the lease is classified as a finance or operating lease.

We adopted the new leasing guidance on January 1, 2019, and we elected practical expedients permitted by the new standard which provided us transition relief when assessing leases that commenced prior to the adoption date, including determining whether existing contracts are or contain leases, the classification of such leases as operating or financing, and the accounting for initial direct costs.

The adoption resulted in the recognition of a cumulative-effect adjustment to the opening balance of Retained earnings, the recognition of a gross ROU asset and lease liability, and the reclassification of existing balances for our leases as follows:



	Balances as of December 31, 2018(1)			Recognition of Gross ROU Asset and Lease Liability			Reclassification of Existing Balances			Balances January 1, 2019 after Transition Adjustments (2)
Premises and Equipment:
Right-of-use assets	$	—		$	66,231		$	(21,438	)	$	44,793
Other Assets:
Prepaid expenses (rent)	977			—			(977		)	—
Other Liabilities:
Liability for lease abandonments and deferred rent	(5,498		)	—			5,498			—
Lease liability	—			(66,247		)	977			(65,270		)
Liabilities related to discontinued operations:
Liability for lease abandonments (3)	(15,940		)	—			15,940			—
Retained Earnings:
Cumulative effect of adopting ASU 2016-02	—			16			—			16


(1)	Represents amounts related to leases impacted by the adoption of this ASU that were included in our December 31, 2018 consolidated balance sheet.


(2)	ROU assets as of January 1, 2019 after transition adjustments includes $30.4 million related to premises located in the U.S., $13.6 million related to premises located in India and the Philippines, and $0.7 million related to equipment.


(3)	Represents lease impairments recognized by PHH prior to the acquisition.

Our leases include non-cancelable operating leases for premises and equipment with maturities extending to 2025, exclusive of renewal option periods. At lease commencement date, we estimate the ROU assets and lease liability at present value using our estimated incremental borrowing rate of 7.5%. We elected to recognize ROU assets and lease liabilities that arise from short-term leases. A maturity analysis of our lease liability as of September 30, 2019 is summarized as follows:



Annual obligation for the twelve months ended September 30,
2020	$	17,534
2021	15,533
2022	14,215
2023	5,182
2024	1,089
Thereafter	829
	54,382
Less: Adjustment to present value	(6,136		)
Total lease payments, net	$	48,246

Restricted cash includes a $23.2 million deposit as collateral for an irrevocable standby letter of credit issued in connection with one of our leased facilities. This letter of credit requirement under the terms of the lease agreement is primarily the result of PHH not meeting certain credit rating criteria prior to the acquisition. The required amount of the letter of credit will be reduced each month beginning in January 2021 through the lease expiration on December 31, 2022.

We amortize the balance of the ROU assets and interest on the lease liability and report in Occupancy and equipment expense on our unaudited consolidated statements of operations. Our lease liability is reduced as we make cash payments on our lease obligations. Our ROU lease assets are evaluated for impairment, in accordance with ASC 360, Premises and Equipment, at each reporting date.

Subsequent to adoption, we made the decision to vacate four leased properties prior to the contractual maturity date of the lease agreements. As a result of our plan to vacate the office space, we accelerated the recognition of amortization on the ROU assets based on the shortened remaining useful life of the leases. We recorded total accelerated amortization of $5.4 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2019.

Accounting Standards Issued but Not Yet Adopted

Financial Instruments - Credit Losses: Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (ASU 2016-13 and ASU 2019-04)

This ASU will require more timely recording of credit losses on loans and other financial instruments. This standard aligns the accounting with the economics of lending by requiring banks and other lending institutions to immediately record the full amount of credit losses that are expected in their loan portfolios. The new guidance requires an organization to measure all expected credit losses for financial assets held at the reporting date based on historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts. This standard requires enhanced disclosures related to the significant estimates and judgments used in estimating credit losses, as well as the credit quality and underwriting standards of an organization’s portfolio. Additionally, the new guidance amends the accounting for credit losses on available-for-sale debt securities and purchased financial assets with credit deterioration. This standard will be effective for us on January 1, 2020. We are currently evaluating the effect of this standard.

Fair Value Measurement: Disclosure Framework - Changes to the Disclosure Requirements for Fair Value Measurement (ASU 2018-13)

This ASU modifies the disclosure requirements on fair value measurements in FASB ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurement. The main provisions in this update include removal of the following disclosure requirements from this ASC: 1) the amount of and reasons for transfers between Level 1 and Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy, 2) the policy for timing of transfers between levels and 3) the valuation processes for Level 3 fair value measurements. This standard adds disclosure requirements to report the changes in unrealized gains and losses for the period included in other comprehensive income for recurring Level 3 fair value measurements held at the end of the reporting period, and for certain unobservable inputs an entity may disclose other quantitative information in lieu of the weighted average if the entity determines that other quantitative information would be a more reasonable and rational method to reflect the distribution of unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements.

This standard will be effective for us on January 1, 2020. The amendments on changes in unrealized gains and losses, the range and weighted average of significant unobservable inputs used to develop Level 3 fair value measurements, and the narrative description of measurement uncertainty will be applied prospectively for only the most recent interim or annual period presented in the initial fiscal year of adoption. All other amendments will be applied retrospectively to all periods presented upon their effective date. We do not anticipate that our adoption of this standard will have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Internal-Use Software: Customer’s Accounting for Implementation Costs Incurred in a Cloud Computing Arrangement That Is a Service Contract (ASU 2018-15)

This ASU aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software (and hosting arrangements that include an internal use software license). The accounting for the service element of a hosting arrangement that is a service contract is not affected by the amendments in this ASU. The amendments in this ASU require an entity (customer) in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract to follow the guidance to determine which implementation costs to capitalize as an asset related to the service contract and which costs to expense. The amendments in this ASU require the entity (customer) to expense the capitalized implementation costs of a hosting arrangement that is a service contract over the term of the hosting arrangement. The amendments in this ASU also require the entity to present the expense related to the capitalized implementation costs in the same line item in the statement of operations as the fees associated with the hosting element (service) of the arrangement and classify payments for capitalized implementation costs in the statement of cash flows in the same manner as payments made for fees associated with the hosting element.

This standard will be effective for us on January 1, 2020. Upon adoption, we will elect to apply the amendments in this ASU prospectively to all implementation costs incurred subsequent to that date. We do not anticipate that our adoption of this standard will have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.