Paul E. Mullings has been named chief executive of the Mortgage Electronic Registration System.
Mr. Mullings recently resigned his position as president and chief executive of First Interstate Bancorp's Residential Mortgage Division to help develop the registry, which is known as Mers.
The mortgage electronic registry is modeled after Wall Street book entry securities systems such as Depository Trust Co.'s. When operable, it will be used to electronically transfer mortgage servicing and ownership rights.
"Paul Mullings has just the right combination of vision, energy, and business acumen needed to get Mers up and running," said Stephen Morrison, chairman of the Mers board of directors, and a senior vice president with Norwest Mortgage Inc., Des Moines.
Mers was formed in October 1995 by the Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., Norwest Mortgage, BancBoston Mortgage Corp., American Home Funding Inc., Crestar Mortgage Corp., Source One Mortgage Services Corp., Allied Group Mortgage, Knutson Mortgage Corp., and Weyerhaeuser Mortgage Co.
The Mers board of directors said that GE Capital Mortgage Services Inc. and Merrill Lynch Credit Corp. also have signed letters of intent to join the registry, which is to be developed once members decide upon a technology provider.
Mers officials plan to evaluate all responses to its Jan. 4 request for proposal from technology providers. Responses are due back in February, said Leilani E. Allen, a mortgage technology expert with Tenex Consulting, Burlington, Mass., which is helping Mers choose a vendor. "Hopefully we'll have this wrapped up by the end of April," Ms. Allen said.
Before joining First Interstate, Mr. Mullings had been executive vice president with Glendale Federal Bank, Calif., and with International Telephone and Telegraph, New York.
