OCWEN FINANCIAL CORPORATION (NYSE:OCN) Files An 8-K Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement
Item 1.01
As previously disclosed, on December 28, 2016, PHH Mortgage Corporation (PMC), a subsidiary of Ocwen Financial Corporation (Ocwen or the Company), entered into an agreement (the Agreement) to sell substantially all of its mortgage servicing rights (MSRs), and the related servicing advances, to New Residential Mortgage LLC (NRM), a subsidiary of New Residential Investment Corp. As of December 31, 2019, $2.7 billion UPB of MSRs and related advances remained to be sold to NRM under the Agreement subject to receipt of third party consents required for the MSRs to transfer. On March 11, 2020, Ocwen and NRM entered into an amendment to the Agreement under which the parties agreed that such MSRs and related servicing advances were no longer subject to sale and would remain with PMC. The Company does not believe the retention of these assets will have any significant adverse impacts on the Company’s operations, liquidity or financial condition. The Company did not assume in its 2020 budget or cash flow planning that this sale would be consummated.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Current Report on Form 8-K contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements may be identified by a reference to a future period or by the use of forward-looking terminology. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as “expect”, “believe”, “foresee”, “anticipate”, “intend”, “estimate”, “goal”, “strategy”, “plan” “target” and “project” or conditional verbs such as “will”, “may”, “should”, “could” or “would” or the negative of these terms, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Our business has been undergoing substantial change which has magnified such uncertainties. Readers should bear these factors in mind when considering such statements and should not place undue reliance on such statements.
Forward-looking statements involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. In the past, actual results have differed from those suggested by forward looking statements and this may happen again. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, uncertainty relating to the economic impact of the global coronavirus pandemic and COVID-19 illness, including the response of the U.S. government, state governments, and regulators, and disruption in the financial markets; the future of our long-term relationship and remaining servicing agreements with New Residential Investment Corp. (NRZ); our ability to execute an orderly and timely transfer of responsibilities in connection with the previously disclosed termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement; the reactions of regulators, lenders and other contractual counterparties, rating agencies, stockholders and other stakeholders to the announcement of the termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement; our ability to adjust our cost structure and operations as the loan transfer process is being completed in response to the termination by NRZ of the PMC subservicing agreement, including unanticipated costs and the timeline on which we can execute on these actions; our ability to devote sufficient management attention and financial resources to our growth and other strategic objectives as we work through the loan transfer process and adjust our cost structure and operations; uncertainty related to our ability to execute on continuous cost re-engineering efforts and the other actions we believe are necessary for us to improve our financial performance; our ability to acquire MSRs or other assets or businesses at adequate risk-adjusted returns and at sufficient volume to achieve our growth goals, including our ability to allocate resources for investment, negotiate and execute purchase documentation and satisfy closing conditions so as to consummate such acquisitions; uncertainty related to our ability to grow our lending business and increase our lending volumes in a competitive market and uncertain interest rate environment; uncertainty related to claims, litigation, cease and desist orders and investigations brought by government agencies and private parties regarding our servicing, foreclosure, modification, origination and other practices, including uncertainty related to past, present or future investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders and settlements with state regulators, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), State Attorneys General, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Justice or the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and actions brought under the False Claims Act regarding incentive and other payments made by governmental entities; adverse effects on our business as a result of regulatory investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders or settlements; reactions to the announcement of such investigations, litigation, cease and desist orders or settlements by key counterparties, including lenders, the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae), the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac, and together with Fannie Mae, the GSEs) and the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae); our ability to comply with the terms of our settlements with regulatory agencies and the costs of doing so; limits on our ability to repurchase our own stock as a result of regulatory settlements and other conditions; increased regulatory scrutiny and media attention; any adverse developments in existing legal proceedings or the initiation of new legal proceedings; our ability to effectively manage our regulatory and contractual compliance obligations; our ability to interpret correctly and comply with liquidity, net worth and other financial and other requirements of regulators, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, as well as those set forth in our debt and other agreements; our ability to comply with our servicing agreements, including our ability to comply with our agreements with, and the requirements of, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae and maintain our seller/servicer and other statuses with them; the adequacy of our financial resources, including our sources of liquidity and ability to sell, fund and recover advances, forward and reverse whole loans, and HECM and forward loan buyouts and put backs, as well as repay, renew and extend borrowings, borrow additional amounts as and when required, meet our MSR or other asset investment objectives and comply with our debt agreements, including the financial and other covenants contained in them; the impact on Ocwen of our implementation of the CECL methodology for financial instruments (ASU 2016-13 and ASU 2019-04); our ability to fund future draws on existing loans in our reverse mortgage portfolio; our servicer and credit ratings as well as other actions from various rating agencies, including the impact of prior or future downgrades of our servicer and credit ratings; as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed in Ocwen’s reports and filings with the SEC, including its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and its current and quarterly reports since such date. Anyone wishing to understand Ocwen’s business should review its SEC filings. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, we disclaim any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About OCWEN FINANCIAL CORPORATION (NYSE:OCN)
Ocwen Financial Corporation is a financial services holding company. The Company, through its subsidiaries, operates as a mortgage company. The Company’s segments include Servicing, Lending, and Corporate Items and Other. The Company’s Servicing segment consists of its core residential servicing business. The Company’s Lending segment is focused on originating and purchasing conventional and government-insured residential forward and reverse mortgage loans. The Company’s Corporate Items and Other segment includes business activities that include providing secured floor plan lending to used car dealerships through its Automotive Capital Services (ACS) venture and providing financing to investors to purchase single-family homes and apartments for lease through its Liberty Rental Finance venture. The Corporate Items and Other segment also includes the diversified fee-based businesses, which provide property valuation, real estate owned (REO) management, title and closing services.