Robbie: So, let’s talk about the MCT mobile app and how it does competitive bidding on AOTs. What’s the latest?

Phil: We’re really excited about the mobile app. The biggest advance is the ability to execute competitive trades out of the mobile app in TAM. So, it’s basically a three-legged API where you have an API from the mobile app into MCTlive!, so you can actually follow along in MCTlive! with the trade execution, but then you’ll see that, execute an API to Agile and then Agile will basically send those bids out to all the competitive dealers. And the bids will come back and just like you see in master trader, for those of you that are trading in TAM, you’ll see those bids come back, the highest bid will be in green.

But you’ll have the ability to execute any of the bids that you want, should you want to execute for whatever reason to an execution outside of the best bid. As far as how that will link into the assignment of trade, you’re able to basically access those trades, that trade blotter, when you’re doing your executions on BAM through the mobile app.

Now the BAM portion of the mobile app’s been around for about a year, but the difference now is you’re able to execute AOT TBA trades from that app through BAM and that goes for both the normal AOT process that we do with some of the aggregators, and also some of the API automated processes, like Penny Mac’s API, for instance.

Robbie: Are people using the mobile app for this? What’s the adoption been like on this AOT side of things in the app?

Phil: From an adoption standpoint, we haven’t had experience on that yet, empirical evidence on that yet, because we haven’t, pushed it out to the masses. You’re right in that some of the complicated, executions, like an AOT, maybe for a smaller subset of the client base. With that said, with the mobility now, some of the things that you and I were just talking about, Robbie, with the ability to work remote it’s more conducive to not being at your desktop. And at the end of the day, when you’re hedging a pipeline, you know, selling that TBA trade is a time sensitive execution.

We’re taking in those loans off of a static rate sheet against a moving market. So, we need to make sure that we’re executing those TBAs, those short positions, as close to as possible when those long positions were executed. And of course, the long position is that interest rate lock commitment.

So, I do think that the majority for those clients, those lenders that are hedging their pipelines that are the trader actually executing the TBA, and that don’t have a secondary staff to backfill them. You know, when they go out, for instance, just literally out to lunch, the mobile app is very useful because it’s always been updating your coverage and that’s for, you know, the last five years that we’ve had the app.

But now you can watch your coverage ratios change as new production comes in and then execute those TBAs to offset that risk, you know, outside of the office. So, I do think that is a game changer and that’s something we expect to have heavy adoption for the lenders that are hedging their own pipeline. Obviously, if you’re using an MCT trader to execute TBAs, you’re not going be using that functionality.

Robbie: What sort of other functionality do we have in the app that app that our clients are really enjoying?

Phil: We have pair off functionality. Now, for those of you that are familiar with, with TAM (Trade Auction Manager) and Agile, and how MCT uses that, and how you’re able to use that as a lender hedging your pipeline. We do not yet best-ex offer side trades because that’s a little bit more complicated, especially if the position is not on with the dealer that you execute at. So, the pair off will be just the same functionality that is throughout the industry on the phone. The pair off will be just a one-to-one where you’re going to have the trade on with a given dealer. And pair that position off.

Again, back to your question on what the adoption is going to be like on the pair off functionality. That definitely is going to be used. It’ll be used a little bit less in the mobile app than the bid side. Again, covering exposure that’s coming in while you’re away from your computer. But it is neat if you execute a loan sale, maybe some investors don’t come back with confirms as quickly as you’d like. So, you don’t actually know when those specific loan sale executions are made.

If you were to get that notification outside of the office, you can pair out of that position. So, that’s on the trading side. With regard to the mobile app, we’re continuing to add functionality on the loan sale execution side. There is a limit, basically as far as pixel size on the screen of how much information a user can deal with on the phone.

Some of that functionality will be limited to those that are out of the office a lot and really want to rely heavily on the app for, you know, more complicated executions like Rapid Commit and bid tape AOT executions.

Robbie: And for those people out there not yet utilizing the app or utilizing the app and looking to get more out of it, is it contact your trader? Go to the app store? What do you recommend for people?

Phil: Good question. You can contact your trader, but it’s also in the Apple App Store. We have been working on an Android app. There are some differences with the APIs because there are so many APIs involved in communicating with MCTlive! and especially on the trade side, communicating with the agile platform as well. but we’ll be adding, hopefully in the next couple months here, we’ll be adding an Android app.