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Mortgage Reserve Accounts Aimed at Averting Foreclosure Could Help Narrow Black-White Homeownership Gap

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SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, June 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Efforts to close the persistent and detrimental Black-white homeownership gap, currently at 30 percentage points, must include not only measures to decrease the barriers to Black homeownership opportunity, but also mechanisms to ensure that homeownership is sustainable once achieved. Mortgage reserve accounts are among the innovative solutions that could help homeowners overcome temporary hardships and get back on track with their mortgage payments, instead of falling into foreclosure.

A comprehensive new report from the Racial Equity Accelerator for Homeownership — a collaboration of Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco (FHLBank San Francisco) and the Urban Institute — examines a variety of new product structures aimed at supporting homeowners who experience temporary financial hardship, with a particular focus on how mortgage reserve accounts could help homeowners avoid default. This solution would disproportionately benefit Black families, who are more than twice as likely as white families to lose their home to foreclosure.

Recent research indicates that the greatest number of defaults are caused by shocks such as unexpected expenses (64%); job loss (56%); large debt payments (44%); or illness, disability, or death (43%), and that Black homeowners are more vulnerable to all these shocks due to their generally lower levels of liquid assets, more precarious employment, larger debt-to-income ratios, greater medical debt, and higher cost of homeownership. The long history of reduced access to wealth-building opportunities, that Black households have experienced means they have less financial cushion to fall back on in the event of a financial shock; in contrast, the typical white family has eight times the wealth of the typical Black family.

“Efforts to promote Black homeownership and narrow the Black-white wealth gap are undermined when homeownership is not sustained,” said Janneke Ratcliffe, vice president of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. “For this reason, we need to redouble our efforts to develop effective ways to give homeowners breathing room so that a financial rough patch does not lead to losing a home.”

“The housing finance industry has created a robust foreclosure prevention toolkit over the past 15 years, but there’s still significant room for improvement, and we need to pursue multiple new avenues to reduce the risk of default. These financial tools, designed to help families keep their homes and build generational wealth, would also make mortgages less risky for lenders, insurers, and investors,” said Teresa Bryce Bazemore, president and CEO of FHLBank San Francisco. “Our joint research with the Urban Institute has identified a number of promising ways to help close the racial gap in homeownership and wealth building. This latest report highlights the potential of mortgage reserve accounts, and we welcome the opportunity to further explore this type of solution.”

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The report, Using Mortgage Reserves to Advance Black Homeownership, explores solutions that have been proposed or could be enhanced to sustain homeownership, particularly in addressing shocks that hit Black homeowners harder than others. These solutions, which range from tried-and-tested approaches to still-undeveloped ideas, fall into three broad categories: enhanced foreclosure prevention (e.g., forbearance programs, loan modification), insurance (e.g., mortgage protection insurance, home warranty insurance, mortgage insurance that protects the borrower rather than the lender, a borrowers mutual insurance fund), and dedicated reserve accounts.

While all these tools have potential and many could work together, this report focuses on the mortgage reserve account, a savings account tied to an individual mortgage and funded by reducing the downpayment. If borrowers experience an income shock or an unexpected expense, they typically use the account to cover mortgage payments.

Several mortgage reserve models have been developed and tested, some of which — such as the Prosperity Now pilot program and the Self-Help credit union network’s Savings Account for Emergencies program — include matched savings to encourage participation. Mortgage reserve account programs are also being explored as part of the Equitable Housing Finance Plans. Research suggests that such accounts mitigate foreclosures by providing emergency savings for borrowers to draw on if needed.

The authors of Using Mortgage Reserves to Advance Black Homeownership analyze default rates and loss severities on loans and determine that reserves improve performance, even on mortgages with higher loan-to-value ratios, and reduce overall losses, even though severities are higher. However, reserve accounts do involve trade-offs for both homeowners and lenders, and more study and testing are needed to determine the optimum amount and duration of reserves and the conditions under which the reserves can be used, as well as to answer more detailed operational questions. The authors outline a blueprint for piloting a mortgage reserve account program that could generate a critical mass of evidence to inform further product development.

This report is the third in a series of four developed through a two-year, $1.5 million collaboration between the Urban Institute and FHLBank San Francisco. Previous reports examined incorporating alternative data into mortgage underwriting and mitigating the impact of student debt on Black homeownership. Future research will address using artificial intelligence and other new technologies to overcome historical mortgage lending biases.

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About the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco
The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco is a member-driven cooperative helping local lenders in Arizona, California, and Nevada build strong communities, create opportunity, and change lives for the better. The tools and resources we provide to our member financial institutions — commercial banks, credit unions, industrial loan companies, savings institutions, insurance companies, and community development financial institutions — propel homeownership, finance quality affordable housing, boost economic vitality, and revitalize whole neighborhoods. Together with our members and other partners, we are making the communities we serve more vibrant, equitable, and resilient and changing lives for the better.

About the Urban Institute
The nonprofit Urban Institute is a leading research organization dedicated to developing evidence-based insights that improve people’s lives and strengthen communities. For 50 years, Urban has been the trusted source for rigorous analysis of complex social and economic issues; strategic advice to policymakers, philanthropists, and practitioners; and new, promising ideas that expand opportunities for all. Our work inspires effective decisions that advance fairness and enhance the well-being of people and places.

Source: FHLBank San Francisco and Urban Institute


GlobeNewswire is one of the world's largest newswire distribution networks, specializing in the delivery of corporate press releases financial disclosures and multimedia content to the media, investment community, individual investors and the general public.

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Lucinity’s AI Innovation Recognized at Microsoft’s Prestigious Global Partner Awards 2024

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REYKJAVIK, Iceland, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Lucinity has been recognized as a finalist in the AI Innovation category at the prestigious Microsoft Global Partner Awards 2024, recognizing its breakthrough AI solution and contribution to financial security through its collaboration with Microsoft. 

Lucinity beat more than 4,700 companies to be named a finalist at the annual Microsoft Global Partner Awards, which highlights Lucinity’s achievements as a Microsoft partner in optimizing business processes, improving customer experiences, and opening new pathways for digital transformation.
This achievement comes in addition to winning two prestigious awards at Microsoft Partner Awards 2024 last month, including Partner of the Year – Iceland, and the Sustainability and Social Impact award.
The accolade recognizes Lucinity’s significant advancements in AI for financial crime operations, particularly through their AI-powered copilot, Luci. This innovative solution utilizes Microsoft Azure OpenAI technology to integrate advanced generative AI into financial crime investigations and regulatory compliance, optimizing processes and saving significant time and resources for financial institutions.
The Lucinity platform streamlines compliance, provides instant insights, and reduces typical investigation times from three hours to just 30 minutes. The technology can also save financial institutions an estimated $100 million in productivity savings, as well as savings in training and recruitment.
Microsoft comments on Lucinity’s award recognition, saying “Financial crime profoundly impacts our global community, with far-reaching economic, security, and social implications. It can harm a country’s reputation and increase exposure to criminal activities, emphasizing the critical need for robust anti-money laundering initiatives and persistent vigilance. Lucinity, with their innovative AI solutions, has really tried to combat this huge global challenge. They use ‘Human AI’ to enhance financial crime prevention, combining AI with human expertise for efficient, user-friendly solutions. Additionally, Lucinity has developed a tool called Luci, an AI-powered copilot that helps transform financial crime prevention from a process that took hours to one that takes minutes.”
“Being recognized as a finalist at the Microsoft Global Partner Awards is  validation of our impactful collaboration with Microsoft in financial crime operations. Our partnership has been pivotal for our innovations, enabling us to use Azure OpenAI to bring tools like Luci to life and deliver impactful results for our clients,” says Guðmundur Kristjánsson, Founder & CEO of Lucinity.
Contact:Name: Celina PabloEmail: [email protected]: +354 792 4321
Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2208676/4669079/Lucinity_Logo.jpg

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Asia Pacific View: Foreigners Looking for the Most Practical Smart Technology at the 2024 World Intelligence Expo

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BEIJING, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Bionic robots that speak both Chinese and English can have the same skin and nails as humans? A flying car powered solely by wind can have a maximum payload of 160 kg? A smart wheelchair can control its operation with just the “mind”? Kevin and Daria, two foreign bloggers, have experienced during the World Intelligence Expo held in Tianjin how the artificial intelligence can empower people’s future lives in industries such as technology, trade, logistics and cultural tourism.

 
With the theme of “Intelligent Travel Empowering Future”, the Expo integrates exhibitions, experiences and events, attracting more than 550 exhibitors and institutions from all over the world, including more than 70 well-known enterprises such as Huawei, Alibaba, Baidu and Danfoss, and 57 universities and research institutions such as Peking University, Tsinghua University, Nankai University and Tianjin University. The Expo set up 10 major themes such as artificial intelligence, intelligent networked vehicles, intelligent manufacturing and robots, covering the frontier hot spots of the intelligent industry. A number of cutting-edge new technologies, new products, and new experiences from all over the world were showcased centrally, reminding people that technology will completely change the lifestyles in the future.
At the exhibition site, various intelligent robot products such as humanoid robots, bionic robots, and intelligent robot dogs interact with the audience on the spot. They are no longer fantasies in science fiction or movies, but play an important role in monitoring, rescue, cultural tourism and other fields. In the low-altitude economic exhibition area, a number of drones, flying vehicles, and aerospace technology companies collectively display advanced technology products. A low-altitude aircraft shaped like a helicopter brought by the German company Tensor can independently complete cargo transportation, takeoff and landing according to pre-set routes according to the instructions. Robotic arms incorporating technologies such as 5G, IoT, edge computing, rocker robotics, and artificial intelligence can shoot high-frame-rate video and support autofocus, achieving effects that cannot be achieved in traditional shooting modes. Viewers can also have more novel experiences with the help of smart technology.
The Expo also hosted three major events such as the Asia-Pacific Robotics World Cup Tianjin International Invitational, the World Intelligent Driving Challenge, and the International Intelligent Sports Conference. A number of technological achievements and innovative applications were demonstrated in the competitions. For exhibiting companies, this Expo is also an opportunity to further promote the transformation of enterprises to information technology and digitalization, and will also bring huge business opportunities.
Contact: Guo RanPhone: 008610-68332663Email: [email protected] 
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjjzurfN_r0 Logo:  https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2451195/logo_Asia_Pacific_View_Logo.jpg
 

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Tech Companies Leading the Charge in the Transformative AI Era

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USA News Group Commentary
Issued on behalf of Avant Technologies Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC, June 28, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — USA News Group – The world is changing rapidly thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), with what’s being called the Transformative AI era which comes with great benefits and also potential dangers. The economic impacts are global, with a new report from The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) urging central banks to adapt rapidly to AI advances. Now it’s become apparent how important it is for companies to understand how to harness the full potential of GenAI to secure strategic revenue growth in the coming years. The surge of AI’s usefulness is accelerating innovation in R&D, while behind the scenes tech companies are advancing the infrastructure required to keep this revolution going, including new developments from Avant Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI), Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN), Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET), Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL), and Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Known for pioneering advancements in AI, Avant Technologies Inc. (OTCQB: AVAI) has persistently refined and expanded its premier offering, Avant AI™. This sophisticated AI platform, celebrated for its machine learning and deep learning capabilities, is the culmination of Avant’s efforts to deliver unprecedented and cost-effective compute infrastructure that unlocks the full potential of AI and ushers in a new era of technological advancement. 
“There is a real unmet need as rapid growth across the entirety of the AI and big data industries is outpacing the necessary infrastructure for an industry that demands exponential power and capacity while remaining cost effective,” said Avant’s CEO William Hisey in a recent address of progress on AI supercomputer-driven data centers. “Avant’s ‘edge-native’ approach doesn’t rely on cloud-based services so we can offer AI and big data companies many advantages over the more familiar ‘cloud-native’ approach, including, reduced latency, improved security and privacy, increased scalability, and reduced costs.”
In a recent strategic development, Avant entered into a Binding Letter of Intent (BLOI) with Flow Wave, LLC (FW), a prominent Florida-based firm specializing in immersible computer server technology. This agreement allows Avant to acquire up to 50 cutting-edge immersible computer servers from FW, in a transaction valued at $50 million.
“By integrating proprietary machine learning algorithms with open-source innovations into these servers, Avant is developing a highly intelligent system designed to optimize resource allocation, enhance performance, and drive unprecedented levels of efficiency and automation,” said Hisey.  “This marks the beginning of a new era for Avant Technologies, positioning us at the forefront of the supercomputer-driven data center industry and setting new standards for managing and storing AI applications.”
Flow Wave Immersible AI Supercomputer Servers are engineered for demanding AI and machine learning applications, delivering powerful processing capabilities that accelerate data analysis. Their cutting-edge cooling system is both energy-efficient and cost-effective, reducing environmental impact. These servers’ compact design facilitates easy installation in space-constrained data centers, and their robust construction ensures longevity and lower maintenance requirements.
In response to digital era challenges, Avant intends to acquire up to 50 of these high-performance servers. Their superior cooling technology boosts performance while conserving energy, aligning with Avant’s goal of providing top-tier AI infrastructure and maximizing efficiency. Additional details about the acquisition will be shared once the final agreement is secured.
In Q3 2024, Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN) brought in over $900 million in new Generative AI bookings, for a total of $2 billion fiscal year-to-date. Despite missing its overall earnings targets, the market responded by sending its shares upward.
“We achieved strong new bookings of over $21 billion, up 22% over last year, and continued to accelerate our strategy to be the reinvention partner of choice, with another 23 clients with quarterly bookings of over $100 million, bringing the total of such bookings to 92 year-to-date,” said Julie Sweet, Chair and CEO of Accenture. “We also achieved two significant milestones this quarter — with $2 billion in Generative AI sales year-to-date and $500 million in revenue year-to-date — which demonstrate our early lead in this critical technology.”
Back in May, Accenture took steps to help its clients to scale their Generative AI responsibly.
“Clients are eager to embrace the potential of generative AI, and we are ready to help them build responsible AI into every use,” said Sweet. “We do this for ourselves, and we can use that example to help our clients find success faster. Our focus is to enable our clients to innovate AI safely and be ready to seize the opportunities that AI will bring in the decades ahead.”
Recently, the cloud-based security solution provider Cloudflare, Inc. (NYSE: NET) unveiled the general availability of its AI Gateway platform. Marketed as a comprehensive interface for managing and scaling generative AI workloads, the platform has transitioned from its beta phase, which started in September 2023, to full client use after successfully handling over 500 million requests.
This launch coincides with Cloudflare’s announcement of a partnership with Hugging Face, a leading platform for AI developers. The collaboration offers a one-click global deployment for AI applications via the Workers AI platform, now also generally available. As the first serverless inference partner integrated on the Hugging Face Hub, this allows developers to deploy AI models quickly, easily, and cost-effectively on a global scale, without the need for managing infrastructure or paying for unused compute capacity.
“Workers AI is one of the most affordable and accessible solutions to run inference,” said Matthew Prince, CEO and co-founder, Cloudflare. “With Hugging Face and Cloudflare both deeply aligned in our efforts to democratize AI in a simple, affordable way, we’re giving developers the freedom and agility to choose a model and scale their AI apps from zero to global in an instant.”
In the education space, Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) through Google, is bringing new AI tools to Google Workspace for teen students using their school accounts to help them learn responsibly and confidently in an AI-first future, and empowering educators with new tools to help create great learning experiences.
“In the coming months, we’re making Gemini available to teen students that meet our minimum age requirements while using their Google Workspace for Education accounts in English in over 100 countries around the world, free of charge for all education institutions,” said Google in a blog post. “To ensure schools are always in control, Gemini will be off by default for teens until admins choose to turn it on as an Additional Service in the Admin console.”
Google has also developed a number of resources and trainings to help students, parents and educators use generative AI tools responsibly and effectively, including a video on how teens can responsibly use AI while learning.
After recently hitting a $2-trillion valuation, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) continues to be a big player in the AI space. Now it’s reportedly working on its own AI chatbot that some say might be smarter than ChatGPT, named Metis, which will generate answers by grabbing info from the internet.
Metis is driven by an internal Amazon AI model known as Olympus, drawing inspiration from Greek mythology. According to sources, Olympus is a more advanced version of Amazon’s publicly available Titan model.
Amazon’s CEO Andy Jassy has noted that nearly every division within the company is engaged in some form of AI project. As a pioneer in cloud computing, Amazon has been developing machine learning, a subset of AI, for many years. Jassy recently announced that Amazon’s AI initiatives are projected to generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, with expectations of driving “tens of billions of dollars” in sales in the coming years.
However, Amazon has lagged in the realm of consumer AI assistants. An internal document from last year highlighted that Amazon “does not have a publicly or internally available product that looks and works exactly like ChatGPT.”
According to a source reported by Business Insider, the tentative launch date for Metis is September, right around the time when Amazon is set to host a big Alexa event, although the timeline could still change.
Source: https://usanewsgroup.com/2023/10/26/unlocking-the-trillion-dollar-ai-market-what-investors-need-to-know/
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USA NEWS [email protected](604) 265-2873
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