SERVICING RIGHTS

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2017

The Company retains MSRs from certain of its sales of residential mortgage loans. MSRs on residential mortgage loans are reported at fair value. Income earned by the Company on its MSRs is derived primarily from contractually specified mortgage servicing fees and late fees, net of curtailment costs and third party subservicing costs. The Company retains servicing rights in connection with its SBA loan operations, which are measured using the amortization method.

On a consolidated operations basis, total income (loss) from servicing rights was $4.3 million and $(5.3) million, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016. The Company recognized losses on the fair value and runoff of servicing rights of $1.9 million and $10.2 million, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016. The Company recognized servicing fees of $6.2 million and $4.9 million, respectively, for the three months ended March 31, 2017 and 2016. These amounts are reported in Loan Servicing Income (Loss) in the Consolidated Statements of Operations.

During the year ended December 31, 2016, the Company entered into a flow-agreement establishing general terms for the purchase and sale to a third party MSR investor in connection with residential mortgage loan sales to GSEs. The flow-agreement allowed the Company to sell its MSRs to a third party MSR investor contemporaneous with the Company’s sales of its servicing retained residential mortgages to the GSEs. Accordingly, entering into the flow-agreement reduced the impact of volatility associated with the Company's MSRs by allowing the Company to sell its MSRs immediately, thus reducing the Company's exposure to market and other conditions. During the three months ended March 31, 2017, the Company suspended sales of MSRs under the flow-agreement. The Company does not expect to resume sales under the flow-agreement, as the Company has discontinued its Mortgage Banking segment operations.

The following table presents a composition of servicing rights, on a consolidated operations basis, as of the dates indicated:



	March 31, 2017		December 31, 2016
	(In thousands)
Mortgage servicing rights, at fair value	$	42,833	$	76,121
SBA servicing rights, at cost	1,618		1,496
Total	$	44,451	$	77,617

Mortgage loans sold with servicing retained are not reported as assets and are subserviced by a third party vendor. The unpaid principal balance of these loans at March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016 was $4.15 billion and $7.58 billion, respectively. Custodial escrow balances maintained in connection with serviced loans were $14.9 million and $34.2 million at March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively. The reductions in these balances were principally driven by the sale of $37.8 million of MSRs during the three months ended March 31, 2017 recognized as discontinued operations.

Mortgage Servicing Rights

The following table presents the key characteristics, inputs and economic assumptions used to estimate the Level 3 fair value of the MSRs, on a consolidated operations basis, as of the dates indicated:



	March 31, 2017			December 31, 2016
	($ in thousands)
Fair value of retained MSRs	$	42,833		$	76,121
Discount rate	10.95		%	10.18		%
Constant prepayment rate	12.83		%	11.84		%
Weighted-average life	6.20 years			6.50 years

The following table presents activity in the MSRs, on a consolidated operations basis, for the periods indicated:



	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2017			2016
	(In thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	76,121		$	49,939
Additions	7,801			8,582
Changes in fair value resulting from valuation inputs or assumptions	(44		)	(8,201		)
Sales of servicing rights⁽¹⁾	(39,186		)	(3		)
Other	(1,859		)	(1,947		)
Balance at end of period	$	42,833		$	48,370

(1) Includes $37.8 million of MSRs sold as a part of discontinued operations for the three months ended March 31, 2017.

SBA Servicing Rights

The Company used a discount rate of 7.50 percent to calculate the present value of cash flows and an estimated prepayment speed based on prepayment data available. Discount rates and prepayment speeds are reviewed quarterly and adjusted as appropriate. The following table presents activity in the SBA servicing rights for the periods indicated:



	Three Months Ended
	March 31,
	2017			2016
	(In thousands)
Balance at beginning of period	$	1,496		$	788
Additions	186			293
Amortization, including prepayments	(47		)	(45		)
Impairment	(17		)	—
Balance at end of period	$	1,618		$	1,036

- Definition

The entire disclosure for a transferor's continuing involvement in financial assets that it has transferred in a securitization or asset-backed financing arrangement, the nature of any restrictions on assets reported by an entity in its statement of financial position that relate to a transferred financial asset (including the carrying amounts of such assets), how servicing assets and servicing liabilities are reported, and (for securitization or asset-backed financing arrangements accounted for as sales) when a transferor has continuing involvement with the transferred financial assets and transfers of financial assets accounted for as secured borrowings, how the transfer of financial assets affects an entity's financial position, financial performance, and cash flows.

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