Waters calls on FTC to evaluate ICE’s $13B Black Knight deal

Highly effective Home Monetary Companies Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters needs regulators to carefully scrutinize the proposed $13 billion buy of Black Knight by Intercontinental Change (ICE).

In a letter despatched to the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) this week, the California Democrat raised considerations in regards to the merger, which might make ICE the most important mortgage companies firm within the housing ecosystem.

“Particularly, I’m involved in regards to the damaging outcomes that could be handed on to shoppers, reminiscent of increased costs, if such consolidation had been to result in decreased competitors,” Waters wrote in a letter to FTC Commissioner Lina Kahn. “At this time, ICE and Black Knight every play a dominant position within the expertise market that powers America’s mortgage originations (greater than $2 trillion per 12 months), servicing ($12 trillion in loans excellent), shopper fee pricing, registry and shopper information repository, and shopper information and advertising and marketing actions.”

If ICE had been to shut the deal, it might be capable to exert “important market energy over mortgage pricing for shoppers, entry to and sale of shopper information, and mortgage pricing software program,” she wrote. “Furthermore, a mixed ICE and Black Knight might hurt small lenders that depend on distributors for his or her expertise wants by considerably disincentivizing accountable innovation and inhibiting vendor competitors given the dominant market share of ICE.”

Waters stated that ICE, which owns the New York Inventory Change, has juiced costs earlier than.

“If this deal closed as proposed, the ensuing conglomerate might exert important market energy over mortgage pricing for shoppers, entry to and sale of shopper information, and mortgage software program pricing. Furthermore, a mixed ICE and Black Knight might hurt small lenders that depend on distributors for his or her expertise wants by considerably disincentivizing accountable innovation and inhibiting vendor competitors given the dominant market share of ICE.”

“For instance, since being acquired by ICE in 2013, information costs on NYSE elevated over 1,000% in simply over 5 years,” Waters stated.

She broke out six areas of concern, together with mortgage originations, writing that ICE’s Embody LOS has 50% market share whereas Black Knight’s Empower LOS has about 10 to fifteen% market share.

“What assurances could be supplied that lenders, particularly small and mid-size corporations, is not going to face onerous pricing will increase or extended service delays if the deal is accepted?” she requested, including that corporations usually go prices on to shoppers.

Waters additionally pointed to antitrust complaints filed towards Black Knight, whose mortgage servicing platform has roughly 65% of the $12 trillion U.S. servicing market. (Black Knight has disputed the claims and alleged that PennyMac tried to repeat their platform.)

“Given these allegations and Black Knight’s important servicing market share, how will Black Knight’s MSP system interface with mortgage origination programs not owned by ICE? What claims could also be made to servicer and shopper information?” she requested.

In a analysis memo on Thursday, analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods stated the letter doesn’t “spotlight something very incremental to our current views across the anti-trust danger” surrounding the deal.

“Particularly, Chairwoman Waters highlights the numerous mixed market share of ICE and BKI’s mortgage origination programs as a high space of concern, which inserts with our considering that BKI’s Empower is more likely to be divested (which we estimate represents solely a mid- to high-single-digit p.c of BKI’s earnings and isn’t a strategically vital a part of the platform for ICE),” KBW’s Ryan Tomasello wrote. “We reiterate our view that the FTC will probably sue to dam the transaction, however that the deal nonetheless has a larger than 50% likelihood of closing when contemplating this.”

A number of distinguished voices within the mortgage trade, together with former FHA Commissioner Dave Stevens, have spoken out towards the deal, arguing it might be dangerous if a lot shopper information had been owned by one firm.

In an op-ed printed on HousingWire in July, ICE Chairman Joe Tyrrell outlined the explanations he says the deal ought to proceed. Amongst them? Modernization of the mortgage servicing platform and higher integration throughout options to get rid of pointless friction.

Tyrrell argued that the acquisition was not about market share however “fixing actual issues” within the trade. He stated they supply clients the choice of choosing multi-year agreements with built-in value projections. Most clients choose 4 or 5 12 months phrases, and stated Black Knight is analogous in its pricing construction.

Tyrrell stated the deal wouldn’t damage competitors however actually spur innovation.

“ICE is often the primary firm that the majority start-ups strategy to create consciousness of their choices and get assist distributing their merchandise,” Tyrrell argued. “Within the final 12 months alone, we’ve built-in and launched 67 new companion options to our shoppers, with a lot of these coming from new start-ups. We wouldn’t have any unique relationships with these corporations, as they companion with many LOS corporations.”