New venture blends deep industry experience and an analytical approach powered
by cutting-edge technology, aiming to return confidence to mortgage markets
Sept. 25, 2008 - Mortgage veterans Sue Allon and Daniel Gallery today announced
the formation of Allon Hill, a new type of mortgage due diligence provider
focused on helping clients understand, manage and reduce risk, and improve returns
through highly informed whole loan trade and bond buying decisions. The company
will be based in Denver, Colo.
Allon Hill will deliver a variety of analytical, advisory and consulting services
to clients including hedge funds, mutual funds, private investors, government agencies,
ratings agencies and mortgage originators and service providers. The primary business
line is due diligence, with specialties in seasoned performing and non-performing
loan reviews and quality control for agency delivery.
Allon also said her company has acquired Edison Mortgage Decisioning Solutions,
a leading provider of due diligence and data and analytics reporting. Edison’s assets,
including its staff of experienced mortgage analysts and its proprietary due diligence
technology, will become part of Allon Hill’s service delivery model.
“The events of the past year have shown the catastrophic consequences of a fundamentally
flawed mortgage due diligence model, which must be re-invented to bring back confidence
and liquidity to the market,” Allon said. “Due diligence must evolve from a report
to support a loan purchaser’s pricing decision to a disclosure document on which
investors and others can rely. It’s time for due diligence to become a high value-added,
insight-driven assessment of risk, rather than a superficial report on loan file
contents.”
Allon, who will serve as chief executive of Allon Hill, founded The Murrayhill
Company, a premier third-party credit risk management firm, during the mid 1990s.
Gallery, another Murrayhill veteran, will serve as Allon Hill’s president.
Allon Hill’s mortgage analysts will take an auditor’s approach to due diligence,
using an industry-leading technology platform formerly known as “ICE,” or Integrated
Credit Engine, acquired from Edison. The web-based system automates the data download
function, employs risk-filtering technology, minimizes the potential for data duplication
and error, and permits loan buyers real-time access to view the data throughout
the transaction.
“Getting the mortgage market moving again will require a level of expert care in
planning and executing due diligence assignments that hasn’t existed before now,”
Gallery said. “Our approach will be a departure from the past, and it’s a necessary
departure. Investors must demand analytical expertise, independence and value-added
insights, along with a disciplined process that leverages technology to deliver
more efficiently. All of this adds up to value, and that’s what we intend to deliver.”