Secure Collateral Management already announced the skip-tracing and collateral recovery provider was moving into a new headquarters.
And then Monday, Secure Collateral Management and MBSi Corp. — a member of the Automotive Intelligence Council and provider of repossession assignment software and vendor compliance solutions — announced they are expanding their partnership.
Secure Collateral Management will begin using MBSi’s compliance management system, Contract Comply, to manage collateral recovery vendor vetting, which will be performed by RISC.
Secure Collateral Management recovery vendors will be vetted and monitored by RISC to maintain current copies of business licenses, insurance certificates, articles of incorporation, employee documents and state repossession licenses. All vendor information will be securely stored and tracked in MBSi’s compliance management system, Contract Comply.
“Compliance is at the forefront of our leading skip tracing and recovery services,” said Joseph Farley, executive vice president at Secure Collateral Management. “Selecting RISC’s in-depth vendor vetting process and MBSi’s compliance management system allows us to securely and confidently maintain vendor documents while focusing on locating customers for our lender clients.”
MBSi president Cort DeHart added, “Secure Collateral Management is an outstanding provider and we are proud they are expanding their partnership with us to include vendor compliance management.”
DeHart is also among the executive set to appear during Used Car Week 2018, which begins on Nov. 12 in Scottsdale, Ariz. Complete details can be found at www.usedcarweek.biz.
There’s been another change in ownership within the floor-planning space.
Sopra Steria, a European leader in digital transformation, recently announced the acquisition of lending solutions provider Sword Apak, a subsidiary of Sword Group.
Sopra Steria has acquired, through its subsidiary Sopra Banking Software, 100 percent of Sword Apak, which develops specialized solutions for auto financing and asset finance.
Sword Apak currently has more than 100 clients, including major international banking groups and automakers’ captive finance companies. Its flagship offering, Wholesale Finance System (WFS), is a vehicle fleet and inventory financing solution for dealers.
Sword Apak was founded in 1979 and acquired by Sword Group in 2007. In 2017 it posted revenue of 27.5 million Euros. More than two-thirds of its revenues are recurring. Sopra indicated Sword Apak’s EBITDA came to 7.1 million Euros in 2017.
Over the past three years, Sword Apak’s compound annual growth rate for revenue has been 19 percent. As of June 30, Sword Apak had 250 employees.
Sopra Steria said it will consolidate Sword Apak into its accounts by the end of the month.
“This acquisition gives Sopra Banking Software an unrivalled position in the asset finance software market. It rounds out Cassiopae’s offering (loan financing and fleet or personal leasing) with inventory financing solutions for car dealers and other distribution networks,” Sopra Steria said.
“It also further consolidates its strong position with major groups that are already clients of the two companies by leveraging cross-selling opportunities, and provides a global, integrated, end-to-end solution covering all the sector’s financing needs,” the company continued.
“The acquisition of Sword Apak fits perfectly with Sopra Banking Software’s strategy in the promising lending market. It is also aimed at strengthening the company’s business model by boosting its share of recurring revenue,” Sopra Steria went on to say.
“As such, this acquisition reaffirms group’s confidence in Sopra Banking Software’s strategy and its capacity to address financial transformation-related challenges through its digital platform offerings,” the company added.
Sagent Lending Technologies, a joint venture between Fiserv and Warburg Pincus that was previously known as Fiserv Lending Solutions, made a move this week to help auto lenders protect against fraud.
The company has integrated the Cross Check identity verification and fraud prevention solution from Innovis Data Solutions into its auto loan origination system.
So now when an auto lender uses Sagent’s Auto LOS product, it can tap into to Cross Check data to verify the application information provided by the consumer, all within the LOS platform, which can help expedite the process.
“By integrating Sagent’s Auto LOS with Innovis’ Cross Check solution, we’re enhancing our origination platform with a comprehensive suite of validation services for today’s auto lending environment, protecting lenders from fraud, and streamlining the entire loan and lease process for borrowers,” Sagent chief product officer Charles Sutherland said in a news release.
Innovis Data Solutions president Bruce Nixon added: “Innovis and Sagent Lending Technologies have a shared goal to make lending safer and more secure for everyone involved while at the same time fueling sound growth and improving service quality to our lenders, their dealers, and their borrowers.”
MBSi Corp., one of the founding members of the Automotive Intelligence Council, named a new chief operating officer on Tuesday.
The provider of repossession assignment software and vendor compliance solutions to the auto finance industry brought on former Copart chief information officer David Bauer as its COO.
Bauer joins MBSi with 25 years of executive leadership in the auto and insurance services industry. During his more than 15-year tenure at Copart, Bauer designed and built enterprise systems including VB2, the patented live auction platform that helped Copart scale from 80 locations to more than 200 world-wide with a market cap now exceeding $11 billion.
After Copart, Bauer took on the chief operating officer role at Snapsheet, one of the country’s fastest growing tech startups from 2013 through 2017. MBSi highlighted that Snapsheet upended the insurance claims market with their virtual claims solutions and mobile apps. Under Bauer’s technical and operational leadership, Snapsheet scaled its innovative solutions and was able to grow from six employees to more than 400 in his four-year tenure.
“We are excited to onboard David to lead MBSi as we continue to deliver innovative solutions to our growing client base of national auto lenders and their service providers,” said Cort DeHart, president of MBSi.
“David is an exceptional, seasoned leader who has both the technical experience and business acumen necessary to deploy and scale successful technologies to an industry that continues to navigate a changing compliance and technological landscape,” continued DeHart, who again is among the industry executives and experts slated to appear during Used Car Week, which begins on Nov. 12 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
In this role, MBSi indicated Bauer will lead business operations, product strategy and customer support, delivering actionable intelligence and user-friendly software to finance companies, national forwarders, collateral recovery agents and third-party service providers in the auto finance industry.
Servicing Solutions and masterQueue are both involved with Repo Con at Used Car Week 2018 — Education, Celebrations, Technology and Connections — and now the companies are partnering to help finance companies with collections, too.
Servicing Solutions, which specializes in primary and back up servicing, on Friday announced that it is partnering with masterQueue to increase efficiencies and provide cost savings for its clients.
As a web-based skip-tracing and collections software company, masterQueue combines artificial intelligence with public records data it gathers using automated workflow in order to efficiently locate lost customers or assets in a manner that meets all state and federal regulatory guidelines.
“Aligning with the masterQueue platform will create efficiencies to add significant value to our world-class servicing offering,” said Cesar Guzman, vice president of operations at Servicing Solutions. “It’s been a seamless addition to our process, and we’ve been very impressed with masterQueue’s attentive team.”
Servicing Solutions emphasized that it is committed to investing in powerful technology, and its partnership with masterQueue is the latest example of this forward-facing commitment.
“I am thrilled about our partnership with masterQueue,” said Andrew Coffey, director of collections at Servicing Solutions. “The masterQueue platform is the industry’s best, and it will improve our productivity and efficiency on behalf of our clients.”
John Lewis, founder and chief executive officer masterQueue, added, “The need for lenders to partner with loan servicing companies has never been greater, and Servicing Solutions is building an all-star team of industry leading talent, and we’re excited to see the impact masterQueue will bring to their operation.”
Both Servicing Solutions and masterQueue will be offering workshops during Used Car Week 2018, which begins Nov. 12 at the Westin Keirland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale, Ariz. The discussions and presentations involving these two companies as well as others segments at Repo Con fall within the theme of “pulling collections forward.”
Early bird discounts are available through Oct. 16. Complete details can be found at www.usedcarweek.biz.
Both Spireon and AUL Corp. added to their award collections this week.
Spireon was named Internet of Things (IoT) Innovator in auto dealer management by Compass Intelligence for 2018. And AUL was named winner of both a Gold and Bronze Stevie Award in the Employer of the Year category at the third annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers competition.
Spireon highlighted the technology company was chosen for its leadership in providing new insights to dealers via automotive analytics to enhance dealer operations, customer engagement and profitability with its Kahu offering — the connected vehicle solution specifically designed for dealerships. The awards comprise 20 IoT innovation categories and are voted on by a team of over 30 independent analysts, editors, consultants and advisers.
Spireon’s Kahu solution can connect any vehicle to Spireon’s cloud-based NSpire IoT platform, empowering dealers nationwide with vehicle visibility and actionable data analytics to manage inventory, enrich the consumer purchasing experience and increase customer loyalty.
Standard features like geofencing, speed alerts, battery management and stolen vehicle recovery mitigate risk for dealers and make Kahu a profitable add-on when sold through to consumers. Dealers can also utilize mileage data from customer vehicles post-sale to realize new revenue streams, as they’re able to identify and target them for servicing, lease renewals and trade-ins.
“We are honored to receive this recognition from Compass Intelligence as an innovator in delivering new insights and analytics to improve dealer management with Kahu,” said Jason Penkethman, chief product and strategy officer of Spireon.
“The rapid growth of Kahu across the country, specifically with the largest dealer groups, is a true testament to Spireon’s commitment to advancing the automotive IoT industry with powerful and practical vehicle intelligence solutions,” Penkethman continued.
This award, given on behalf of Compass Intelligence, adds to Spireon’s corporate accolades in 2018, which include: IoT Vehicle Telematics Company of the Year in the 2018 Compass Intelligence Awards, a Silver award in the 2018 Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service and a Silver for New Product or Service of the Year in the 2018 American Business Awards, awarded to Spireon’s NSpire IoT platform.
Workforce honor for AUL
Meanwhile, AUL president and chief executive officer Jimmy Atkinson announced the warranty provider was named winner of both a Gold and Bronze Stevie Award in the Employer of the Year category at the third annual Stevie Awards for Great Employers competition Corp. The Stevie Awards for Great Employers recognize the world’s best who help to create and drive great places to work.
Named the Stevies for the Greek word meaning “crowned,” the competition received more than 550 nominations this year from organizations in 21 nations for consideration in a range of human resources-related categories. AUL was nominated in the Employer of the Year category for Other Industries, for which it won Gold, and in the Insurance Industry, winning Bronze.
“Since AUL’s founding in 1990, we have dedicated ourselves to establishing a culture of excellence, teamwork and integrity,” Atkinson said. “To be honored by the Stevie Awards, with two wins no less, is a tremendous validation of our hard work and the quality of our people.”
AUL HR manager Helen Van Deren added, “The reason AUL is the premier vehicle service contract in the United States is simple. AUL fosters a culture where our people come first — a culture of caring. From providing leading benefits packages, to encouraging personal time off, and enriching professional and educational development, AUL truly believes that thriving employees go above and beyond to ensure a thriving business.
“These awards are further validation of our core convictions,” Van Deren went on to say.
Coming on the heels of establishing a relationship with defi SOLUTIONS, Black Book also announced a development involving its history adjusted valuations (HAV) data and resources being integrated with DIMONT, one of the largest providers of insurance claims adjusting and collateral loss mitigation services.
Under the agreement, the companies highlighted Black Book’s HAV insight and resources are now integrated into DIMONT’s proprietary systems for claims adjusters to help in their work pursuing insurance claims on repossessed vehicles.
History-adjusted valuations are a VIN-specific, analytics-driven resource that can deliver Black Book’s most precise vehicle valuations, helping automotive professionals determine the impact a vehicle’s history has on its value. DIMONT is leveraging HAV as a precise independent data source for its claims adjusters. DIMONT’s team of adjusters will benefit from the increased precision of vehicle values, enhancing their negotiations and leading to better outcomes on vehicles in their portfolio of claims.
“We’re excited to work with Black Book, a company with a rich legacy in accurate valuations for the automotive industry,” said Denis Brosnan, chief executive officer of DIMONT. “For our adjusters, having accurate vehicle valuations is critical to reaching good claim resolutions, which is what we’re all about — proving outstanding service for our customers.”
Black Book executive vice president of revenue Jared Kalfus added, “It’s no longer enough to have vehicle values that are reported just based on make, model and trim level.
“Access to each vehicle’s unique valuation that takes into account its exact historical performance is a critical competitive advantage in the claims adjustment process, and can help minimize risk exposure when evaluating vehicles in accidents,” Kalfus went on to say.
SubPrime Auto Finance News is hosting a free webinar at 2 p.m. ET on Tuesday, when DIMONT will drill deep into the claims process.
Brosnan along with DIMONT’s Steve Garcia will be discussing the importance of an effective insurance monitoring solution on driving more significant recoveries following repossession.
The executives also will discuss how the receipt of automated insurance data can help your organization improve borrower and collection strategies, saving time and resources.
Registration for the free webinar can be completed here.
While perhaps not to the scale of some other data breaches, a dealership management software (DMS) provider recently reached a settlement with New Jersey regulators whose investigation found compromised systems.
New Jersey attorney general Gurbir Grewal and the state’s Division of Consumer Affairs announced a settlement with DMS developer Lightyear Dealer Technologies — makers of DealerBuilt that provides store functions such as F&I sales, fixed ops, accounting, parts and payroll.
Enforcement officials explained settlement resolves the division’s investigation into a cyber security lapse that allowed unauthorized public internet access to a company database containing personally identifiable information of customers and employees of more than 100 dealerships nationwide, including at least four dealerships in New Jersey.
Officials indicated the security gap was exposed in 2016 when a security researcher accessed unencrypted files containing names, addresses, Social Security Numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account information and other data belonging to thousands of individuals, including at least 2,471 New Jersey residents.
To resolve the division’s investigation into the breach, Lightyear Dealer Technologies agreed to enact a variety of data security reforms designed to prevent similar breaches in the future.
“Through this settlement, New Jersey is holding DealerBuilt accountable for a security lapse that exposed sensitive personal data belonging to thousands of our residents and untold numbers of consumers nationwide,” Grewal said.
“As a result of our negotiations, DealerBuilt has agreed to implement comprehensive cyber-security protocols to better protect consumers in all states against the threat of identity theft or other cybercrimes,” Grewal continued.
The reforms include:
—The creation of an information security program to be implemented and maintained by a chief security officer with appropriate background and experience in information security.
—The maintenance and implementation of encryption protocols for personal information stored on laptops or other portable devices or transmitted wirelessly; the maintenance and implementation of policies that clearly define which users have authorization to access its computer network; and
—The maintenance of enforcement mechanisms to approve or disapprove access requests based on those policies; and the maintenance of data security assessment tools, including vulnerability scans.
DealerBuilt also agreed to an $80,784 settlement amount.
“Data breaches like this are a sobering reminder of what can happen when companies fail to adequately protect the sensitive data they collect and store electronically,” said Paul Rodriguez, acting director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. “As this settlement demonstrates, New Jersey stands ready to vigorously enforce the laws that protect consumers from the risk of having their most personal information exposed online.”
Through its investigation, the division found that in April 2015, a misconfigured file synchronizing program allowed unauthorized public internet access to a database containing unencrypted files backed up by approximately130 of DealerBuilt’s client dealerships nationwide, including at least four in New Jersey.
Sometime between October 29 and November 3, 2016, a security researcher was able to access the DealerBuilt database and downloaded files from five of those dealerships, including one in New Jersey: Winner Ford in Cherry Hill.
Upon learning of the vulnerability on DealerBuilt’s systems, the security researcher published an online article drawing attention to the fact that the files were backed up and stored without adequate security protocols in place.
In the wake of the breach, the division began an investigation to ascertain whether DealerBuilt’s conduct was in violation of the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act (CFA) and/or the New Jersey Identity Theft Prevention Act (ITPA).
In a consent order resolving the investigation, DealerBuilt agreed to an $80,784 settlement amount comprised of $49,420 in civil penalties and $31,364 in reimbursement of the division’s attorneys’ fees, investigative costs and expert fees.
Under the terms of the order, $20,000 in civil penalties will be suspended and automatically vacated at the expiration of two years provided DealerBuilt complies with the terms of the consent order and does not engage in any acts or practices in violation of the CFA and/or the ITPA.
Attempts to reach DealerBuilt for a comment about the settlement were unsuccessful.
Investigator Christopher Spaldo and former investigator Brian Morgenstern of the Division of Consumer Affairs’ Cyber Fraud Unit conducted this investigation.
Deputy attorney general Zachary Klein and former deputy attorney general Russell Smith Jr. within the Affirmative Civil Enforcement Practice Group in the Division of Law represented the division in this matter.
As summertime unofficially winds down, Spireon is celebrating a number of corporate milestones secured during the first half of the year.
Spireon attributed product innovation, “white-glove” customer service and key industry partnerships to increases in revenue, active subscriptions and customer service metrics.
“Results for the first half of 2018 show market demand remains extremely strong for our best-in-class connected vehicle solutions,” Spireon chief executive officer Kevin Weiss said. “Across the core markets we serve — auto dealerships, transportation companies and local fleets — a growing number of customers and partners are selecting Spireon based on the quality of our products and outstanding customer service.
“We have made significant investments to scale the business and those investments are paying off,” Weiss continued.
In the franchised dealer segment, Spireon increased Kahu device shipments by 65 percent and boosted revenues by 38 percent during the first six months of the year, compared to the same period in 2017.
The company highlighted Kahu continues to attract large dealer groups for its ability to improve sales effectiveness, operational efficiency, risk management and customer service scores. In Q1, the company showcased unique capabilities of Kahu, such as advanced analytics for test drives and aging inventory, car-sharing with Drive On Demand and consumer mobile app features designed to grow service retention and add-on revenue.
The significant, rapid business impact of Kahu to dealerships has gained 73 new dealer customers for Spireon in the first half of 2018.
Kahu generates meaningful profit for dealers while delivering compelling consumer benefits including stolen vehicle recovery and connected car features. During the first half of the year, consumers used the Kahu app on average 11 times per month to locate their vehicle as well as set geofence and speed alerts.
Spireon mentioned the Kahu app has maintained ratings of 4.6 out of 5, or higher, on both Apple and Google app stores, illustrating the high value of Kahu to car buyers.
The company continues to innovate and grow market share in the subprime sector as well, with device shipments to buy-here, pay-here dealers growing 4 percent year-over-year.
In June, Spireon released Quick Locate, a new feature for its GoldStar solution that can provide dealers and finance companies with instant visibility to vehicle location and status.
Spireon insisted GoldStar customers remain extremely loyal, with an average customer rating of 8.9 out of 10, and 94 percent likely to recommend GoldStar, according to a TechValidate survey of BHPH dealers published in March.
A leader in the trailer management space, Spireon achieved a significant milestone surpassing 200,000 trailer telematics subscribers for its FleetLocate asset and trailer intelligence solution.
The rapid growth of Spireon’s market share in the trailer segment is due in part to continued innovations that streamline operations and increase profitability for customers. In the first half of 2018, the company introduced FL Flex, the industry’s first modular trailer tracker designed for mixed fleets. The compact, power-efficient tracker can be configured with a wide range of sensors, such as the new FleetLocate Cargo Sensor with patent-pending IntelliScan sensing technology, announced in early July.
In the first half of this year, trailer revenues increased 36 percent versus the same span a year earlier, and Spireon secured or grew business with several notable enterprise customers including Transervices, Contract Leasing Corp. and Ryder System.
Spireon’s fleet business in the small and mid-market segments also grew in with a 45-percent increase in device shipments year-over-year.
Partnerships with leading brands and resellers extended the reach of Spireon fleet solutions, and included:
• General Motors: Spireon launched their FleetLocate Connected by OnStar solution in mid-2017, enabling customers with OnStar-equipped GM vehicles to gain instant access to the FleetLocate platform without added costs or installation time associated with aftermarket devices. In the first half of this year, the company achieved 27 percent growth in activations versus the second half of 2017.
• Ford Commercial Solutions: In June, Spireon partnered with Ford Commercial Solutions for FleetLocate to access data through Ford’s Transportation Mobility Cloud. As a result, fleet operators with Ford vehicles will be able to utilize FleetLocate with no aftermarket hardware required.
• FleetLocate Resellers: In the first half of this year, Spireon experienced 53 percent growth in fleet channel revenue from its largest reseller partner, and a 73-percent increase in active subscriptions year-over-year. Overall, device shipments through the company’s reseller channel have increased by 39 percent.
Furthermore, Spireon in August was among six companies to join Automotive Grade Linux (AGL), a collaborative cross-industry effort developing an open platform for the connected car. With the addition of these companies and organizations, the project is 130 members strong.
Automotive Grade Linux is a collaborative open source project that aims to accelerate the development and adoption of a fully open software stack for the connected car. Leveraging the power and strength of Linux at its core, AGL is uniting automakers and technology companies to develop an open platform that offers OEMs complete control of the user experience so the industry can rapidly innovate where it counts.
“Spireon has nearly 4 million vehicles connected to our NSpire platform, and data from more than 326 billion driving miles under our belt, so we fully understand the challenges of a fragmented telematics ecosystem that the AGL project seeks to overcome,” Spireon chief technology officer Rick Gruenhagen said.
“A standardized software stack will accelerate autonomous and other connected vehicle benefits by helping solution providers like Spireon gain secure access to in-vehicle functions and data that have been locked in OEM-specific implementations until now,” Gruenhagen continued.
And among other developments, Spireon improved its Net Promoter Score (NPS), a key measure of customer satisfaction and loyalty, to 71, far surpassing the industry average of 21.4 for business-to-business technology companies. Reinforcing the company’s commitment to outstanding service and support, Rashid Ismail joined the company in March as senior vice president of customer success.
Ongoing third-party recognition continued to underscore the excellence of Spireon’s service, support and technology. Awards won in the first half of 2018 include:
• Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service: Silver Award for Customer Service Department of the Year in the 2018
• Compass Intelligence Awards: IoT Vehicle Telematics Company of the Year in 2018
• American Business Awards: Silver Award for Spireon’s NSpire version 3.0 IoT platform in the New Product of the Year category
“The Spireon team continues to raise the bar on achieving key business metrics — whether that is devices shipped, revenue, new customers or NPS scores — which is not an easy feat when looking at the company’s substantial transformation in recent years,” Weiss said.
“Our unrivaled commitment to customer service, aggressive technology roadmaps and thriving partnerships have set us up for a strong finish to 2018,” he went on to say.
The c-level executive team at defi SOLUTIONS now has grown by three members so far this year.
The latest addition is Jason Zubrick as chief technology officer. Zubrick comes to defi SOLUTIONS with nearly 20 years’ software architecture experience, most recently at GameStop where he worked for 10 years.
The company highlighted Zubrick will be maintaining a focus on long-term strategy while continuing the development of defi SOLUTIONS products.
Lately, Zubrick has been heavily involved in the DevOps community. He published a paper last year titled “Value Stream Architecture: Creating an Architecture to Connect the Dots in DevOps,” and has another, “Moving from Project to Product: Modernizing Traditional Enterprise Operating Models,” set for release in October.
“Jason is certainly the right man for the job,” said Lana Johnson, defi SOLUTIONS chief operating officer. “He has a reputation for successful communication, a strong work ethic and finding the right solution for the problem.
“As the technology lead for defi, he’ll have high standards to live up to. But we’re beyond confident that he’ll be a valuable addition to the team,” Johnson continued.
Former defi SOLUTIONS chief technology officer Rob Dufalo has moved into the role of chief innovation officer. With more than 15 years of experience creating new software and technology, Dufalo holds two patents for work he created at Microsoft. His new role involves the development of ideas and products that support the company’s growth and vision.
Growing from six employees in 2012 to now more than 100, defi SOLUTIONS said it “continues to add new people, capabilities and products that meet the needs of lenders. defi’s web-based technology offers business user configurability, quick implementation, system scalability, and integration with more than 50 data partners.”
