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LOCAL EDITION ORIGINATION volume, compared with $3.6 bil- lion for last year. Fairway's CEO, Steve Jacobson, spoke out on the recent findings, commenting, "We are very thankful to be in this position. Our resiliency and success given current market conditions is a testament to the amazing people we have on board, who put the utmost care into every transaction." Oklahoma AG Initiates Separate Settlement ARRANGING AN INDEPENDENT DEAL WITH MORTGAGE SERVICERS, THE STATE REACHED AN AGREEMENT WITH FIVE NATIONAL SERVICE PROVIDERS. OKLAHOMA // Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt announced that the state reached an independent mortgage settlement with five national service providers. In a statement, Pruitt said the Oklahoma settlement requires five servicers—Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and GMAC—to pay Oklahoma a total of $18.6 million in compensatory damages to resolve claims of unfair and unlawful practices. The attorney general's public protection unit will process the relief applications. "Oklahoma is fortunate to have a stronger housing market and economy than many other states that are struggling. This settlement will provide damages to those Oklahomans who did fall victim to unfair and unlaw- ful misconduct of mortgage servicing companies, while not exceeding the appropriate role and authority of state attorneys general," Pruitt said. The multistate executive committee determined the final settlement amount. The Oklahoma settlement comes after an 18-month investigation of the mortgage servicing practices that contributed to the nation's mortgage and foreclosure crisis, conducted by attorneys general voicing strong concern that the settlement overreached the authority of state attorneys general. He warned the terms questioned fundamental fairness and justice by rewarding homeowners who had stopped paying their mortgages. "We had concerns that what started as an effort to correct specific practices harmful to consumers, morphed into an attempt by President Obama to establish an overarching regulatory scheme, which Congress had previously rejected, to fundamentally restructure to restructure the mortgage industry. Provident Expanding into Retail Originations ANNOUNCING A NEW LEND- ING PLATFORM, THE HOLDING COMPANY LAUNCHES RETAIL MORTGAGE LOAN GROUP. CALIFORNIA // In California, Provident Financial Holdings Inc. has announced its entry into retail originations. The company from all 50 states and the Justice Department. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller announced in recent months that the settlement had expanded beyond investigating fraud and unlawful practices and now further contained a restruc- turing of the mortgage industry that included modifications to loans, principal reduction, and a potential fine of $25 billion. Pruitt responded to Miller's announcement in a letter, the mortgage industry in the United States," Pruitt stressed in a statement. He further cautioned that the national settlement terms may have consequences for local community banks and didn't include Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, whose practices reportedly played major roles in the mortgage housing crisis. Oklahoma did not sign on a national settlement of $25 billion dollars that the president used recently announced that it has hired a retail mortgage banking group to open loan production locations under the Provident Bank Mortgage banner throughout the northern region of the state. The retail mortgage group selected by Provident is cur- rently operating in Roseville, San Rafael, and Fairfield, California, and Provident's new loan offices will be based in each city. In total, the branches will employ around 40 mortgage banking personnel, with 26 staffers han- dling retail production alongside 14 supporting employees. In a company statement, Provident noted that each mem- ber of its California-based retail mortgage team is extremely ex- perienced and that the relation- ships each employee possesses should enable them to contribute immediately. Provident already has 14 full-service retail and business banking branches throughout the Inland Empire area of the state, in addition to 12 loan origination locations. Craig G. Blunden, chairman and CEO of Provident, said of the company's expansion, "Our mortgage banking division has been operating in Northern California for the past six years and produces approximately 30 percent of all loans we originate for sale. The addition of this new group will further diversify the geographic source of our origina- tion volume and increase the retail percentage, which, histori- cally, has been more profitable for the bank." Continuing his commentary, Blunden added, "The group is led by a seasoned team of mortgage banking professionals who were previously affiliated with a large mortgage originator who recently chose to exit the business." Provident is headquartered in Riverside, California, and the company's bank, Provident Savings Bank, FSB, is considered a federally chartered, full-service retail bank with assets of around $1.3 billion. Provident has served clients around the Inland Empire for more than 55 years. THE M REPORT | 45 ORIGINATION SERVICING ANALYTICS SECONDARY MARKET