Finance

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in home lending technology, today announced an integration with Mezzo, creator of the mortgage industry's first one-to-many operating architecture for third-party services. Available through Dark Matter's Exchange℠ Partner Marketplace, the integration gives lenders using the Empower® Loan Origination Solution a single gateway and workflow across multiple verification providers.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Capital Automotive Group today announced the acquisition of six Larry Cloninger dealerships and an independent collision center in North and South Carolina, marking a significant expansion for the family-owned automotive group and, more importantly, the continuation of a legacy built on relationships, community, and more than four decades of friendship between the Cloninger and Michael families.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Franklin Madison today announced the availability of Guaranteed Issue Life Insurance (GI Life), a new approach to life insurance that removes traditional barriers to coverage through guaranteed acceptance, simplified enrollment, and no waiting periods.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Floify, the mortgage industry's leading point-of-sale (POS) solution, today announced that Technology Credit Union (Tech CU) has chosen Floify to modernize its first mortgage and home equity lending experience.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- EDEAL, an emerging financial services company serving individuals and small businesses in Latin America, today announced significant growth in its lending operations in Colombia, alongside a new strategic relationship with Sardona Capital S.A., a securities firm regulated and supervised by the Superintendence of the Securities Market of the Republic of Panama.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) joined nearly 1,800 volunteers at Norfolk Scope Arena on September 18 for Roc Solid Foundation's inaugural Ready Bag Rally. In less than two hours, volunteers packed 16,000 Ready Bags to support families navigating a childhood cancer diagnosis. The rally was Roc Solid's first Ready Bag packing event of this scale.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Strategic Benefits Advisors, Inc. (SBA) has been recognized by the Atlanta Business Chronicle as one of Atlanta's largest employee benefits and compensation companies of 2026. This is the eighth consecutive year SBA has made the Chronicle's annual list highlighting benefits consultants and brokers. Even as the number of benefits consultants and brokers in Atlanta fell 17% in 2026, according to the Chronicle, SBA held its position.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced expanded support for investor loans, including debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) loans.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- ACES Quality Management®, the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced today the launch of ACES Population Testing™, which evaluates a financial institution's loan origination pipelines and servicing portfolios against its defined policies and identifies the records that warrant a reviewer's attention.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- FirstClose, a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for home equity and mortgage lenders nationwide, announced today the launch of Lender Portal, a new workspace that lets loan officers manage borrower leads in one place, from initial contact through submission.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Informative Research (IR), a leading technology provider of data-driven credit and verification solutions for the lending industry, today announced that Tim Cox has rejoined the IR leadership team as executive vice president of business process automation. In this role, Tim will apply his industry expertise to support the company and help its clients work more efficiently and intelligently.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- iEmergent, a forecasting and advisory services firm for the financial services, mortgage and real estate industries, today released a new analysis validating its 2025 forecasts against actual Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data. The analysis, which uses final 2025 HMDA data released by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council on June 23, 2026, spans every geographic level from national down to individual census tracts.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Argyle, the leading consumer-permissioned verification platform, today announced the launch of a new solution that enables wholesale mortgage lenders to extend income, employment, and asset verification across their broker networks with a broker-branded borrower experience. The solution is available through Argyle's Verification API as well as through Encompass® TPO Connect from ICE Mortgage Technology®.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Atlantic Bay Mortgage Group LLC (Atlantic Bay) today announced the opening of its first Louisiana branch in Baton Rouge, extending its' presence across the South and giving Louisiana homebuyers access to a wide range of mortgage options, local expertise, and the technology and resources of an established lender.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- EnergyCAP®, the leading utility and energy management platform for public and private sector organizations, announced Insights, a new capability to their energy and utility management platform, that brings reporting, alerting and prioritization together so energy teams can focus on what's most important. The announcement came at Catalyst Converge, the company's 20th annual conference where energy, facilities, finance and sustainability teams are gathered for three days of learning, collaboration, and product innovation.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Mezzo, creator of the mortgage industry's first one-to-many operating architecture for third-party services, today announced an integration with Vesta, the AI-native loan origination system (LOS) and agent platform built to automate and accelerate mortgage operations. Mezzo launches with a single gateway across verification providers.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Vice Capital Markets, a leading mortgage hedge advisory firm for independent lenders, banks and credit unions, today announced that its capital markets platform now supports the inclusion of VantageScore™ credit scores on mortgage bid tapes, providing lenders and investors with greater visibility into loan-level credit characteristics during the secondary market execution process.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Friday Harbor, an AI pre-underwriting platform that helps loan officers assemble complete and compliant loan files in real time, today announced its integration to the Freddie Mac Income Calculator API. Lenders can now determine calculated monthly income for wage earners, including borrowers with variable income, in minutes while helping preserve eligibility for certain representation and warranty (R&W) relief tied to the income calculation.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Optimal Blue today announced its initial speaker lineup for its 2027 Optimal Blue Summit, including Analyst, ESPN Monday Night Football, 3-Time Super Bowl-Winning Quarterback, Pro Football Hall of Famer Troy Aikman. The third annual event shaping what's next in mortgage will take place February 1-3, 2027 at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- ACES Quality Management®, the leading provider of enterprise quality management and control software for the financial services industry, announced today that three senior professionals will speak at two fall industry conferences including MBA's Compliance and Risk Management Conference, Sept. 27-29 at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, D.C., and the America's Credit Unions Lending Council Conference, Nov. 3-6 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Fairway Home Mortgage and the Kanyur Reverse Team are proud to announce the opening of a new branch location in Phoenix, Arizona. The new office, located at 11811 N. Tatum Blvd., Suite 1002, Phoenix, AZ 85028, represents an exciting milestone in the team's continued commitment to serving homeowners throughout Arizona with specialized retirement lending solutions.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Argyle, the leading consumer-permissioned verification platform, today announced an expanded integration with Tidalwave, an agentic AI platform that automates the full U.S. mortgage lifecycle from application through closing. Argyle and Tidalwave partnered in 2025 to embed Argyle's verification of income and employment (VOIE) solution into Tidalwave's borrower workflow through payroll connectivity.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Click n' Close, a multi-state mortgage lender, today announced that mortgage industry veteran Blake Priest has joined the company as director of whole loan trading. In this role, Priest will lead the company's scratch and dent purchasing, giving correspondent partners another outlet for loans that fall outside traditional investor guidelines.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Optimal Blue today released its August 2026 Market Advantage mortgage data report, which found that mortgage activity continued to soften in August even as rates leveled off. Total rate-lock volume declined 9% month over month (MoM) and slipped 3% below August 2025 levels. Purchase lock volume fell 10% from July but remained 6% higher year over year (YoY), with purchase loans accounting for nearly 81% of total lock volume.

eNewsChannels NEWS: -- Dark Matter Technologies (Dark Matter), an innovative leader in mortgage technology, today announced it has expanded its leadership team with two experienced executives: Salvatore Piccola as senior vice president of product strategy and Gil Valera as vice president of professional services. The additions strengthen two areas central to Dark Matter's growth strategy: innovation focused on using AI to improve customer experience, help lenders realize efficiencies, and drive seamless implementation and adoption of its product capabilities.