eLynx: Buys up SwiftView
Big news today on the electronic mortgage front. Cincinnati-based eLynx has acquired Swiftview, a competing firm. eLynx tapped the vast resources of parent firm American Capital Strategies Ltd., (NASDAQ: ACAS), a firm that already owns 180 companies in a range of industries, to close the deal.
"This acquisition is a decisive move to strengthen our position and deliver even greater value to our customers and partners," said eLynx President and CEO Phil Huff. "The eLynx and SwiftView organizations are highly complementary to one another. These synergies will enable us to rapidly advance e-business innovation and set the standard across financial services and a broad range of industries. We share a unified vision to help enterprises deliver a higher quality of service to their customers while gaining dramatic cost and cycle time advantages."
Together the companies serve more than 500 customers in the financial services and insurance industries, including 17 of the top 20 lenders. eLynx alone will handle over 10 million financial transactions involving consumers, lenders and settlement agents by year's end.
It's not yet clear whether eLynx will absorb Portland, Oregon-based Swiftview. eLynx already has an R&D facility located in Portland. According to the release, the firm will maintain operations in both Cincinnati and Portland. For now, it appears that SwiftView president Steve Bachelder will be staying aboard. He was quoted in the release:
"We are extremely pleased to join forces with eLynx at a time when financial services enterprises are looking to paperless processes to improve the efficiency of their businesses," Bachelder said. "We have great respect for the accomplishments of eLynx and are very excited about the impact our combined capabilities will have on the rapid shift towards paperless transactions. The combined companies' resources and services will mean we can serve all our customers even better, while accelerating their efficiency with the best and most widely used paperless tools in the industry."
Lenders are eager to move into all-electronic mortgages as it will reduce their costs and shorten their cycle times. Few lenders have made the move yet, however, despite the fact that the GSEs have stated they were in the market to invest in electronic notes for some time. The announcement earlier this year by the Mortgage Bankers Association that it would endorse MERS as a repository for electronic notes was expected to move the industry forward.
"This acquisition is a decisive move to strengthen our position and deliver even greater value to our customers and partners," said eLynx President and CEO Phil Huff. "The eLynx and SwiftView organizations are highly complementary to one another. These synergies will enable us to rapidly advance e-business innovation and set the standard across financial services and a broad range of industries. We share a unified vision to help enterprises deliver a higher quality of service to their customers while gaining dramatic cost and cycle time advantages."
Together the companies serve more than 500 customers in the financial services and insurance industries, including 17 of the top 20 lenders. eLynx alone will handle over 10 million financial transactions involving consumers, lenders and settlement agents by year's end.
It's not yet clear whether eLynx will absorb Portland, Oregon-based Swiftview. eLynx already has an R&D facility located in Portland. According to the release, the firm will maintain operations in both Cincinnati and Portland. For now, it appears that SwiftView president Steve Bachelder will be staying aboard. He was quoted in the release:
"We are extremely pleased to join forces with eLynx at a time when financial services enterprises are looking to paperless processes to improve the efficiency of their businesses," Bachelder said. "We have great respect for the accomplishments of eLynx and are very excited about the impact our combined capabilities will have on the rapid shift towards paperless transactions. The combined companies' resources and services will mean we can serve all our customers even better, while accelerating their efficiency with the best and most widely used paperless tools in the industry."
Lenders are eager to move into all-electronic mortgages as it will reduce their costs and shorten their cycle times. Few lenders have made the move yet, however, despite the fact that the GSEs have stated they were in the market to invest in electronic notes for some time. The announcement earlier this year by the Mortgage Bankers Association that it would endorse MERS as a repository for electronic notes was expected to move the industry forward.
