Black Knight, Inc. announced that Velocity Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in Texas, has selected the Black Knight Empower LOS and integrated origination solutions to support its members and employees with advanced automation and innovative digital capabilities. "At Velocity, we're dedicated to meeting the needs of our members for years to come, and our selection of Black Knight's integrated technology, data and analytics is central to this mission," said Lindsey Record, vice president of mortgage lending, Velocity Credit Union. "With Velocity entering the first mortgage market, it was important to select a proven LOS that allows us the flexibility to help us achieve our strategic goals, and best serve our growing membership, with robust automation." The easy-to-use and highly configurable Empower platform will enable Velocity Credit Union to streamline the origination process from loan application through closing. The cloud-based system's "lights-out" automation will save the credit union time, help reduce the cost per loan and provide Velocity's staff the ability to process more loans at greater speed for an enhanced borrower experience.

Black Knight, Inc. (BKI), a leading provider of integrated software, data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, announced the completion of an independent analysis of the real-world impact of the company's artificial intelligence (AI) solution, AIVA. Using actual findings from the operations of a top 50 lender in Q4 2018, MarketWise Advisors, LLC – a management consulting firm focused on technology in the financial services industry – found that using AIVA can significantly drive down the cost of mortgage originations. The study identified a savings of up to $437 per originated loan, with the cost impact continuing to grow significantly as AIVA's machine learning and unique pattern recognition capabilities mature to include more skills. "Through the independent analysis of an unbiased third party, we have been able to show that lenders can expect to see significant savings by incorporating AIVA into their origination process," said Anthony Jabbour, Chief Executive Officer of Black Knight. "Leveraging AIVA results in significant cost savings, provides the ability to redirect tens of thousands of man hours to items more focused on satisfying customers and produces a return on investment nearing 500%."

An artificial intelligence platform that integrates with key industry utilities and keeps critical data at lending professionals' fingertips was selected as the top fintech demo by attendees of the 2018 Digital Mortgage Conference. Jane.ai was awarded the People's Choice Best in Show Award in recognition of being the most popular technology among the nearly three dozen live demonstrations of mortgage fintech products during the two-day conference, presented by National Mortgage News in Las Vegas Sept. 17-18. After each round of demos, attendees voted for their favorite product on the conference's mobile app. The finalists -- Awesome Technologies, Black Knight, Jane.ai, Notarize and Spruce -- received the most votes from their respective rounds of demos.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 04, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, Black Knight, Inc. (NYSE:BKI) announced that it has acquired HeavyWater, a provider of artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to the financial services industry. Black Knight will be integrating AIVA (pronounced Ay-vah) into its premier solutions, while also making the technology available to clients who seek to deploy AI/ML within other parts of their organizations to help enhance efficiency, effectiveness and accuracy. By taking on manual tasks that have diverted resources away from value creation projects, AIVA reads, comprehends and draws conclusions based on context to mimic cognitive thinking and build expertise over time. Located in Philadelphia, HeavyWater has been providing this solution to help lenders verify income, assets and insurance coverage, which are traditionally manual activities that take hours to complete and are prone to error. Clients benefit from accelerated processes and reduced expenses as AIVA gains experience and manual routines are automated.

With its acquisition of artificial intelligence and machine learning developer HeavyWater, Black Knight is turning to its Artificial Intelligence Virtual Assistant to streamline the mortgage process, with an immediate focus on the originations sector. The company, which acquired the Philadelphia-based startup late last week, aims to eventually get to a place where tech can guide and advise underwriters on potential opportunities and in decision making, according to Rich Gagliano, president of Black Knight's Origination Technologies division. "AIVA makes the decisions and recommends actually a conclusion, the operator can agree or disagree, and as a result of that two things happen: that activity or that job task gets done, and in certain situations, creates a reinforcement learning for AIVA," said Soofi Safavi, CEO of HeavyWater. "That activity ultimately will be shadowed by AIVA to be able to actually give her the same level of cognition that a human expert has," he added. Though AIVA's primary focus for the short term will be on the originations sector, it will also eventually support mortgage servicing.

Black Knight has acquired HeavyWater, a developer of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology for the mortgage industry, and plans to incorporate the startup's borrower data verification and other automation capabilities into its existing product suite. "AI, machine learning and neural network solutions are the future of delivering enhanced productivity and capabilities to our clients, and we are very excited about the potential HeavyWater has to offer," Black Knight CEO Anthony Jabbour said in a press release. "Now, with HeavyWater a part of Black Knight, we'll be able to apply this groundbreaking technology at scale and pursue our shared goal of transforming the industry." The acquisition price was not disclosed. HeavyWater has been using its AIVA technology to help lenders verify income, assets and insurance.

Breakaway's Black Knight is a fearsome foe--all 400 pounds of him. Clad in spiky black armor, standing seven feet tall, and with a man-sized axe in his massive gauntlets, he's basically a murderous brick wall standing between me and freedom. In a modern-day David and Goliath situation, I strafe my way around the Black Knight's left side, flitting just past his weapon and making a break for-- I sprint up the stairs of fabled El Dorado, leap into the air like some ancient-world Michael Jordan, and slam a golden ball down into the pit on the ground. It's an interesting phenomenon that the best "Sports" video games are at best an abstract representation of real-world sports. Oh sure, developers have made astonishing simulations of real sports, with the world's best football and hockey and soccer stars meticulously recreated not just in appearance, but with tables upon tables of stats to delve into.