Ex-FHA head Montgomery starts compliance consulting firm

Gate House Strategies, the consulting firm co-founded by Brian Montgomery, the former Housing and Urban Development official, is now offering fair lending and other compliance management services through a new subsidiary.

Among the founding partners at the new business, Gate House Compliance, is Michael Waldron who was the founder of Compliability Solutions, and the former chief compliance officer at Community Loan Servicing (formerly known as Bayview).

"Today government agencies regulating the financial services industry expect C-suites and boards of directors to pay close attention to the letter and spirit of the law," said Waldron.

In addition, Paul Hancock, a civil rights attorney with K&L Gates, who previously led the Department of Justice's fair housing and fair lending enforcement program, is also in a collaboration with Gate House Strategies.

Gate House Compliance formed an alliance with CrossCheck Compliance, a nationwide regulatory compliance and risk management consulting firm.

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"We've put together on one platform a combination of compliance experts and services that we believe is the first of its kind," said Montgomery in a press release.

"Our collective team possesses the experience and knowledge needed to deliver results for lenders in their compliance ecosystem."

Montgomery rose to be deputy secretary of HUD in 2019 after twice serving as Federal Housing Commissioner.

The new venture will offer clients a wide range of services, including but not limited to: fair lending and servicing assessments; consumer protection compliance to avoid claims of unfair, deceptive and abusive acts and practices; compliance monitoring and targeted reviews; risk mitigation strategies; examination and audit support; reviews of practices for equity and discrimination; and guidance on black box modeling, algorithms, and artificial intelligence.

The new venture already has created a proprietary management system called Gate House Compliance 365, which, on a subscription basis, provides a comprehensive approach to help navigate the increased scrutiny and risks they face from the myriad of fair lending rules and regulations.

Other key people at Gate House Compliance are Liz Scholz, senior advisor in compliance, risk, and client strategies, and Jack Bobbitt, who will support the firm's operations. 

Scholz was a former Federal Housing Finance Agency official for 12 years where she led activities in examination, regulatory policy and board monitoring of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Bobbitt was a former assistant secretary for administration at HUD, and has experience in sales, marketing, operations management and business development.

Montgomery's partners in Gate House Strategies, former HUD officials Hunter Kurtz, Dror Oppenheimer, Keith Becker and Michael Marshall are also partners in the new venture.