One could argue that the success of the internal merger at Promontory MortgagePath a little over one year ago is evidenced by its placement at No. 36 in the ranking of the
Promontory MortgagePath in its current form was created in January 2020, when Promontory Fulfillment Services and PromonTech were brought together with the namesake parent company under a common brand. Individually, the three businesses were founded by former Comptroller of the Currency
"Our vision differentiates us from any competitor out there, because we're not only a fintech. We have the fulfilment side and our mission really is around supporting the community bank fabric across the country," said Debora Aydelotte, its chief operating officer.
Bringing these businesses together under one structure is what helps to differentiate Promontory MortgagePath against other companies that provide third party fulfillment services, she added.
Promontory MortgagePath's customer base consists of community banks looking for outside help with their mortgage business. But the number of community banks in the United States has substantially decreased since the 1980s, with many merging with other similarly sized institutions being acquired or even failing.
Growing competition from larger banks and nonbanks makes it more difficult for the remaining community banks to support mortgage lending, which arguably increases their need for the kind of support Promontory MortgagePath provides.
"They weren't experts in mortgage and need assistance and continue to, so we're excited to bring that to them, particularly with our compliance background, our compliance DNA," Aydelotte said. "We have some of the folks that have written the rules for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on our team." Ludwig's personal reputation from his days at OCC also adds some heft to the company’s reputation in compliance, Aydelotte said.
The two sides of the business are working collaboratively to address client needs, she added. In the last full visit to one of its clients prior to the pandemic, the team consisted of equal amounts of technology staff and operations people. That combination, she continued, means, "they get a really good understanding of what our clients want and what they need to do to support them."
Its primary offices are in Denver, where its tech hub is located, and in Danbury, Conn., where its operations are based. The pandemic has brought the physically distant staffs closer, Aydelotte said.
"The silver lining of COVID, if there is any, is we've learned to work more so as one company,” she said, adding that Promontory MortgagePath has been hiring people to work out of other remote locations.
Promontory MortgagePath is currently putting its focus on helping clients manage their pipelines by offering insights based on behavioral and predictive analytics. They’re also coaching clients on how best to switch gears as the market shifts from refinance to purchase. "Those types of insights are what we want to provide to them through data that we've collected," Aydelotte said.
Among the challenges that Promontory MortgagePath faces is "to find good developers and good tech folks across the board because there is so much going on" in the mortgage business with the extraordinary refinance activity, Aydelotte said. "But we find that when we can articulate the mission and vision and provide an atmosphere that is meaningful for them — it's not just about creating widgets — then they feel more engaged and they're really attracted to it."
