Figure gives Cagney a HUGE second chance
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super un-motivated and generally out-of-whack, it may be time to explore yoga for some much-needed mindfulness. Donât think you can do the stretches? No problem. CNN has a cool guide for doing yoga if you are not very flexible⌠yet.
Figure Lending closed a $100 million financing facility for conforming and jumbo mortgages from J.P. Morgan. The fintech uses blockchain technology to facilitate its lending. This brings the total of funds raised to close to $1.5 billion.
The company was founded in 2018 by serial technology entrepreneur Mike Cagney, who also founded SoFi and built the company into a multi-billion dollar business under his leadership as CEO.
Is this Cagneyâs second chance?
Cagney announced his departure from SAoFi following a report that cited multiple current and former SoFi employees alleging that âsome executives, including the companyâs former finance chief, engaged in or tolerated what they described as improper behavior toward women in recent years.â
That report cited Cagneyâs behavior who also engaged in acts of this nature, but that wasnât the only thing. Around the same time, SoFiâs board and executives also heard complaints from investors that Mr. Cagney had made misstatements to them over the start-upâs student loan products, according to emails between investors, executives and the board that were obtained by The New York Times (paywall).
Given the scope of the scandal, the success of Figure shows just how forgiving our industry can be to some of our worst actors. And whether or not you believe in second chances doesnât matter; Cagneyâs getting a great one, anyway. Itâs now everyoneâs hope that heâs cleaned up his act.
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Optimism is taking hold among the countryâs largest banks
The biggest banks in the United States have begun to pare back the enormous reserves they had socked away in case of an economic disaster, according to a report in the NYT (also, paywall).
In releasing the reserves, the bank will look to initiate more lending, across the board, and that includes the mortgage market. The CEOs of JPM, BofA, Citi and Wells are all pining the hopes of economic recovery on the vaccine roll-out.
âThank God for the vaccine, folks,â Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan, said on a call with reporters on Friday.
The banks still expect that many of their customers will eventually reach a point at which they can no longer pay back some of their loans and there are no more stimulus funds or unemployment benefits to keep them afloat. But, at the moment, that reckoning looks farther out â perhaps as late as the middle of next year, because of the fresh stimulus.
đĽ Weekly Rise&Shred Ep 003 đĽÂ
With Josh Pitts & Jacob Gaffney
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It run late Wednesday through Friday, and you can sign up here. It looks like it will kick off with an Economic Update with First Americanâs Odeta Kushi.
Hey, also, this panel caught our eye: Futureproofing with Technology and Process Design. And there will be vital updates from experts on eClosings, appraisals, using Salesforce, to name a few topics.
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