Orlando, F.L. (March 10, 2003) - The Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA) today announced the formation of the Secure Identity Services Accreditation Corporation (SISAC). A wholly owned nonprofit subsidiary of MBA, SISAC has created documentation and guidelines to accredit and certify Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and secure identity providers. This accreditation structure will allow individual firms to establish various levels of “plug and play” identity within the context of secure e-commerce transactions for use over unsecured networks such as the Internet.

SISAC will address three essential missions for the industry:

• Educate and promote the use of PKI and secure identity within the commercial and residential real estate finance industries
• Create the necessary infrastructure for accrediting third parties to authenticate identities for purposes of e-commerce transactions over unsecure networks
• Establish the necessary infrastructure for accrediting third parties providing secure identity products and services, such as technical, auditing and insurance solutions

“MBA has created SISAC to address issues that we have seen in the development of PKI and secure identity providers,” said MBA Vice Chairman and Board of Directors Technology Committee Chair Michael Petrie. “With the technology we have today, it was clear to us that the industry needed a streamlined mechanism to certify PKI and secure identity suppliers, and thus bridge the gap between individual initiatives. That is the purpose of SISAC.”

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 industrywide e-commerce 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 PKI/secure identity solutions continue to gain adoption in the mortgage industry, it is important for MBA to encourage their open development and embrace open standards available to all industry participants in mortgage transactions. Openly developed PKI and 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 PKI solutions will realize increased efficiencies and new business opportunities.

In 1999, MBA formed the Real Estate Financial Security Management Organization (REFSMO) as a committee to establish open PKI and security standards for the mortgage industry. This open volunteer-based committee is made up of a cross-section of the industry, including lenders, real estate service providers, software companies and government sponsored enterprises (GSEs). Since REFSMO’s inception, the purpose and focus of the initiative has evolved from a detailed set of PKI specifications to a higher-level industrywide accreditation guideline.

“SISAC will provide a much-needed service by furthering the goal of open access and standards for the entire mortgage industry,” stated David Barkley, Freddie Mac’s director of eCommerce Relations. “The creation of these standards will make it significantly easier for the industry to purchase and validate electronic mortgages. That’s the direction we need to achieve our secure e-commerce goals.”

“We consider the fact that SISAC includes a focus on commercial and multifamily applications as an important sign that electronic transactions will soon occur in our industry,” said Niraj Patel, Chief Information Officer for GMAC Commercial Mortgage in Horsham, PA.

SISAC is currently working with five leading providers of secure identity solutions to meet SISAC’s stated requirements and to participate in providing to the residential and commercial industries a breadth of standardized set of PKI and secure identity products. Two to three vendors should be certified in the next two quarters. These requirements and more information can be found on the REFSMO Web site at www.refsmo.org.

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