MISMO has revitalized its MISMO Government Forum as a means to better share and exchange information between regulators, other government agencies and the mortgage industry about the benefits of broader adoption of MISMO data standards. The Government Forum met on Sept. 21 as part of MISMO’s Fall 2012 Educational Summit and Workshop. Industry executives and individuals representing eleven federal government agencies and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac discussed broader adoption of the standards in the context of wide ranging new data requirements flowing from recent legislation and regulation.
“The Dodd-Frank Act’s long list of new rules and regulations includes multiple new reporting requirements. Utilizing MISMO data standards for this reporting will lower costs of compliance and improve data quality for all parties involved,” said Rick Hill, MISMO’s executive vice president and MBA’s associate vice president of industry technology. “This Government Forum is another step forward in increasing awareness among government agencies about the benefits to them and the industry of adopting MISMO standards for reporting purposes in pending regulations. It will also serve as a way for agencies that are new to MISMO to engage with veteran players in this space. Continuing this dialogue going forward will dramatically help MISMO’s efforts to increase the rate of adoption of the standards, leading to significantly higher quality data and more efficient processes for the agencies and the industry alike.”
The next meeting of the MISMO Government Forum is planned for October 2012. MISMO promotes data consistency and eMortgage technology throughout the mortgage process. Using MISMO standards can reduce processing costs, increase transparency, and boost investor confidence in mortgages as an asset class, while creating cost savings that can be passed on to the consumer.
"This Forum encourages agencies that participate in the industry, regulate the industry and/or provide data to the industry to share information and ideas regarding the most effective and efficient means of collecting and exchanging data," said Hill. "Furthermore, mortgage companies and service providers can influence the approaches these agencies may adopt by participating in the data standards setting process, thereby reducing the costs of complying with reporting requirements that might otherwise not be MISMO compliant.”
