"It's wonderful to see that prominent industry companies like Wells Fargo see the immense value that  information security accreditation brings to their business and are taking the necessary steps to meet industry standards," said Robert E. Story Jr., MBA's Vice Chairman and Chair of MBA's Board of Directors Technology (BoDTech) committee.  "We're particularly glad to see that companies are continuing to invest in technology and vital initiatives such as information security even during these challenging times."

SISAC was created four years ago by MBA to accredit and certify secure online identity providers. This accreditation structure allows individual firms to establish various levels of "plug and play" identity within the context of secure eCommerce transactions for use over unsecured networks, such as the Internet.

SISAC addresses three essential missions for the industry:
- Educate and promote the use of secure identity within commercial and residential real estate finance
- Create the necessary infrastructure for accrediting third parties providing secure identity products and services, such as 
  technical, auditing and insurance solutions
- Leverage identity management best practices to establish open standards for trust in the mortgage industry

"Wells Fargo recognizes the risk mitigation value that strong authentication provides within the electronic processes for both the enterprise and external partners," said Chris Burckhardt, Chair of MBA's Residential Technology (ResTech) committee.  "MBA encourages more lenders to seek SISAC accreditation so their proactive efforts to protect the personal identifiable information of their customers can be acknowledged." 

As America's mortgage industry moves toward an electronic rather than paper-based paradigm, MBA intends to set mortgage industry standards for secure identity and to provide the platform for industry-wide eCommerce that will benefit all participants. Open access and standards is the motivating force behind MBA's efforts to establish data security, digital signature, and encryption recommendations.

As secure identity solutions continue to gain adoption in the mortgage industry, it is important for MBA to encourage their open development and to embrace open standards available to all industry participants in mortgage transactions. Openly developed secure identity will increase interoperability between all trading partners and facilitate faster migration to safer electronic transactions and eMortgages for all sectors of the mortgage industry- residential and commercial, origination and servicing, lender and vendor.  Ultimately, the interaction between users of accredited online identity solutions will realize increased efficiencies and new business opportunities.

For further information on mortgage security standards and SISAC, visit www.sisac.org.

###

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is the national association representing the real estate finance industry, an industry that employs more than 370,000 people in virtually every community in the country. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the association works to ensure the continued strength of the nation's residential and commercial real estate markets; to expand homeownership and extend access to affordable housing to all Americans. MBA promotes fair and ethical lending practices and fosters professional excellence among real estate finance employees through a wide range of educational programs and a variety of publications. Its membership of over 2,400 companies includes all elements of real estate finance: mortgage companies, mortgage brokers, commercial banks, thrifts, Wall Street conduits, life insurance companies and others in the mortgage lending field. For additional information, visit MBA's Web site:  www.mortgagebankers.org.