Wilmington serves as digital custodian on Mid America Mortgage Ginnie Mae eNote deal

Mid America Mortgage (MAM) has completed its first Ginnie Mae eNote transaction with  Wilmington Trust, an approved and active e-custodian under Ginnie Mae’s Digital Collateral Initiative (DCI).

DCI was first announced in July 2020 and enables Ginnie Mae to accept eNotes and other digitised loan files as collateral for its securities. Once approved for participation in the programme all eIssuers and their associated eCustodian must complete a series of test transactions before receiving written eMortgage Issuance Authority from Ginnie Mae.

During the initial phase of the Digital Collateral Program, eIssuers are limited by Ginnie Mae in the total number of eMortgages that may be securitised, regardless of loan size.

Wilmington Trust, a provider of corporate and institutional services, was among the first document custodians approved by Ginnie Mae to store eNotes for Ginnie Mae-approved eIssuers. It provides full service eNote custodial services, which includes taking in eNotes via the MERS eRegistry and performing a review and certification to the agencies or warehouse lenders.

Wilmington Trust provides full-service custodian services for non-agency and non-qualified mortgage eNotes. It is currently working to gain approval to provide similar custodial services to Freddie Mac.

MAM announced its first eNote transaction in August 2016.

Jeff Bode, chief executive officer at MAM, said Wilmington possessed a keen understanding of the nuances of storing eNotes. “As long-time Ginnie Mae-approved issuer, MAM was eager to achieve eIssuer status with Ginnie Mae so that we could begin securitising our considerable government-backed digital mortgage volume,” he added.

Joseph Deller, product development manager at Wilmington Trust, said: “This is a critical step in the ongoing digital transformation in the mortgage industry.”

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