Hudson City Boosts Efficiency With Technology

Propelled by low mortgage rates, mortgage loan volume at Hudson City Savings Bank zoomed to record levels last year. The Paramus, N.J.-based institution originated approximately $1.84 billion in mortgage loans in 2002, a 21 percent jump over the previous year.

Yet the bank was able to handle the increase in loan volume without hiring additional staff. Its cost efficiency ratio actually improved to 23.4 percent in the second quarter of 2002, surpassing its already stellar first-quarter ratio of 26 percent.

Hudson City credits the Progress OpenEdge-based UniFi Pro Mortgage loan origination and processing application from Fiserv Lending Solutions, a provider of loan origination and processing technology. Designed for high-volume lenders with unique business models and multiple business channels, UniFi Pro Mortgage takes advantage of OpenEdge's flexibility and operating platform independence to provide a comprehensive, customizable, and configurable lending solution.

"The combination of Fiserv Lending Solutions' industry expertise and Progress technology has helped us to streamline workflows and maintain 100 percent uptime performance, contributing to our superior efficiency," according to Pasquale Attanasio, vice president of desktop technologies at $14 billion Hudson City. "We also haven't needed to add staff because of the efficiency in our system. It's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. From an operational perspective it stays in the corner and gets backed up every night-and that's about it."

At the core of UniFi Pro Mortgage is OpenEdge, a software development platform from Bedford, Mass.-based Progress Software. The platform contains tools and databases for developing, deploying, integrating and managing business applications. It delivers low cost-of-ownership applications that are rapidly implemented and easily integrated with other enterprise, extended enterprise, and Internet-based applications.

"Because UniFi Pro Mortgage is based on the OpenEdge platform, we have the flexibility to adapt our software solution to any computing environment, enabling us to meet the unique needs of customers like HCSB," said Ed McWilliams, UniFi products senior vice president of sales and marketing at Lake Mary, Fla.-based Fiserv Lending Solutions. "We have helped sharpen Hudson City's competitive edge by providing them with a system that evolves with their business requirements and offers an impressive return on investment."