Description of Business and Basis of Presentation | 3 Months Ended |
Mar. 31, 2015 |
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract] | |
Description of Business and Basis of Presentation | Note 1 – Description of Business and Basis of Presentation |
Organization |
Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) (Ocwen, we, us and our) is a financial services holding company which, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the servicing and origination of mortgage loans. Ocwen is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia with offices throughout the United States (U.S.) and in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI) with support operations in India and the Philippines. Ocwen is a Florida corporation organized in February 1988. |
Ocwen owns all of the common stock of its primary operating subsidiary, Ocwen Mortgage Servicing, Inc. (OMS), and directly or indirectly owns all of the outstanding stock of its other primary operating subsidiaries: Ocwen Loan Servicing, LLC (OLS), Ocwen Financial Solutions Private Limited, Homeward Residential, Inc. (Homeward), and Liberty Home Equity Solutions, Inc. (Liberty). |
We perform primary and master servicer activities on behalf of investors and other servicers, including the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) (collectively, the GSEs), the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) and private-label securitizations (non-Agency). As primary servicer, we may be required to make certain payments of property taxes and insurance premiums, default and property maintenance payments, as well as advances of principal and interest payments before collecting them from borrowers. As master servicer, we collect mortgage payments from primary servicers and distribute the funds to investors in the mortgage-backed securities. To the extent the primary servicer does not advance the scheduled principal and interest, as master servicer we are responsible for advancing the shortfall subject to certain limitations. |
We originate, purchase, sell and securitize conventional (conforming to the underwriting standards of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac; collectively referred to as Agency loans) and government insured (Federal Housing Authority (FHA) or Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) forward and reverse mortgages. The GSEs or Ginnie Mae guarantee these securitizations. |
Note 1A — Business Environment and Other Uncertainties |
We are facing certain challenges and uncertainties that could have significant adverse effects on our business, liquidity and financing activities. We may be adversely impacted by the following, among other things: |
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• | Failure to maintain sufficient liquidity to operate our servicing and lending businesses; |
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• | Failure to comply with covenants; |
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• | Downgrades in our third-party servicer ratings; |
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• | Regulatory actions against us; or |
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• | Our relationship with Home Loan Servicing Solutions, Ltd. (HLSS). |
Liquidity |
Our ability to finance servicing advances is a significant factor that affects our liquidity. Our use of advance financing facilities is integral to our servicing advance financing strategy, as these advance financing facilities are necessary for us to meet our daily advance funding obligations under our servicing agreements. Our advance funding facilities have a 364-day term and the revolving periods for all of our advance funding facilities end in 2015. At March 31, 2015, we had $2.0 billion outstanding under these facilities. In the event we are unable to renew, replace or extend one or more of these advance funding facilities, repayment of the outstanding balance must begin at the end of the respective revolving period. In addition, we use mortgage loan warehouse facilities to fund newly originated loans on a short-term basis until they are sold to secondary market investors, including GSEs or other third-party investors. All of our master repurchase and participation agreements for financing new loan originations have 364-day terms and mature in 2015 under the same construct of 364-day facilities that are typically renewed annually. At March 31, 2015, we had $373.0 million outstanding under these financing arrangements. |
We currently plan to renew, replace or extend all of these debt agreements consistent with our historical experience. We currently are in negotiations with our lenders for the renewal, replacement or extension of our debt arrangements that mature or begin amortization in 2015. We may also consider other capital markets transactions including, but not limited to, the sale and financing of advance receivables in the event we do not renew, replace or extend a portion or all of our existing advance financing facilities. We have entered into commitment letters to refinance certain of our debt agreements and extended certain facilities ahead of their scheduled maturity, as detailed below under “Recent Actions.” Our lenders’ obligations to fund under these commitment letters are subject to conditions precedent, some of which are outside our control. In the event we are unable to renew, replace or extend all of these debt agreements, we may not have adequate sources of funding for our business. Due to the significant level of cash requirements related to servicing advances, we may not have sufficient levels of liquidity to fund the operations without our advance financing facilities. We typically require significantly more liquidity to meet our advance funding obligations than our available cash on hand. |
Covenants |
Under the terms of our existing debt agreements, we are subject to various qualitative and quantitative covenants. These covenants include: |
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• | Financial covenants; |
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• | Covenants to operate in material compliance with applicable laws; |
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• | Restrictions on our ability to engage in various activities, including but not limited to incurring additional debt, paying dividends, repurchasing or redeeming capital stock, transferring assets or making loans, investments or acquisitions; |
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• | Monitoring and reporting of various specified transactions or events, including specific reporting on defined events affecting collateral underlying certain debt agreements; and |
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• | Requirements to provide audited financial statements within specified timeframes, including a requirement under our SSTL that Ocwen’s financial statements and the related audit report be unqualified as to going concern. |
Financial covenants in our debt agreements require that we maintain, among other things: |
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• | a specified interest coverage ratio, which is defined under our SSTL as the ratio of trailing four quarter adjusted EBITDA to trailing four quarter interest expense (each as defined therein); |
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• | a specified corporate leverage ratio, which is defined under our SSTL as consolidated debt to trailing four quarter adjusted EBITDA (each as defined therein); |
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• | a specified consolidated total debt to consolidated tangible net worth ratio; |
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• | a specified loan to value ratio, as defined under our SSTL; and |
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• | specified levels of consolidated tangible net worth, liquidity and, at the OLS level, net operating income. |
As a result of the covenants to which we are subject, we may be limited in the manner in which we conduct our business and may be limited in our ability to engage in favorable business activities or raise additional capital to finance future operations or satisfy future liquidity needs. In addition, breaches or events that may result in a default under our debt agreements include, among other things, noncompliance with our covenants, nonpayment of principal or interest, material misrepresentations, the occurrence of material adverse change, insolvency, bankruptcy, certain material judgments and changes of control. Covenants and defaults of this type are commonly found in debt agreements such as ours. Certain of these covenants and defaults are open to subjective interpretation and, if our interpretation were contested by a lender, a court may ultimately be required to determine compliance or lack thereof. In addition, our debt agreements generally include cross default provisions such that a default under one agreement could trigger defaults under other agreements. If we fail to comply with our debt agreements and are unable to avoid, remedy or secure a waiver of any resulting default, we may be subject to adverse action by our lenders, including termination of further funding, acceleration of outstanding obligations, enforcement of liens against the assets securing or otherwise supporting our obligations, and other legal remedies. Our lenders can waive their contractual rights in the event of a default. |
OLS, Homeward and Liberty are parties to seller/servicer agreements and/or subject to guidelines and regulations (collectively, seller/servicer obligations) with one or more of the GSEs, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), FHA, VA and Ginnie Mae. These seller/servicer obligations include financial covenants that include capital requirements related to tangible net worth, as defined by the applicable agency, an obligation to provide audited consolidated financial statements within 90 days of the applicable entity’s fiscal year end as well as extensive requirements regarding servicing, selling and other matters. To the extent that these requirements are not met or waived, the applicable agency may, at its option, utilize a variety of remedies including, requirements to deposit funds as security for our obligations, sanctions, suspension or even termination of approved seller/servicer status, which would prohibit future originations or securitizations of forward or reverse mortgage loans or servicing for the applicable agency. To date, none of these agencies has communicated any material sanction, suspension or prohibition in connection with our seller/servicer obligations. We believe we were in compliance with the related net worth requirements at March 31, 2015. Our non-Agency servicing agreements also contain requirements regarding servicing practices and other matters, and a failure to comply with these requirements could have an adverse impact on our business. |
Servicer Ratings |
Standard & Poor’s (S&P), Moody’s Investors Service (Moody’s), Fitch Ratings Inc. (Fitch) and Morningstar, Inc. (Morningstar) rate us as a mortgage servicer. Each of these rating agencies has downgraded our servicer rating within the last nine months. Additionally, three of these rating agencies currently have our ratings outlook as ‘negative’ or ‘on review for downgrade.’ Maintaining minimum ratings from these agencies are important to the conduct of our loan servicing and lending businesses. Further downgrades in servicer ratings could adversely affect our ability to finance servicing advances and maintain our status as an approved servicer by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The servicer rating requirements of Fannie Mae do not necessarily require or imply immediate action, as Fannie Mae has discretion with respect to whether we are in compliance with their requirements and what actions it deems appropriate under the circumstances in the event that we fall below their desired servicer ratings. |
In addition, out of approximately 4,100 non-Agency servicing agreements, approximately 700 with approximately $45.0 billion of UPB as of March 31, 2015 have minimum servicer ratings criteria. As a result of downgrades in our servicer ratings, termination rights have been triggered in approximately 400 of these non-Agency servicing agreements. This represents approximately $25.0 billion in UPB as of March 31, 2015, or approximately 12% of our total non-Agency servicing portfolio. We recently received notices terminating us as the servicer under four of our non-Agency servicing agreements due to rating downgrades. Pursuant to our servicing agreements, generally we are entitled to payment of accrued and unpaid servicing fees through termination as well as all advances and certain other previously unreimbursed amounts, although we lose the future servicing fee revenue. While the financial impact of the termination of servicing under these four servicing agreements, which represent 0.15% of our overall servicing portfolio as of March 31, 2015, is immaterial to our overall financial condition, we could be subject to further terminations, either as a result of recent servicer ratings downgrades or future adverse actions by rating agencies, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financing activities, financial condition and results of operations. |
Under one of its advance financing agreements, OLS must maintain certain minimum servicer ratings assigned by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch. If any of these rating agencies withdraws its rating or if the assigned ratings falls below the minimum ratings established in the lending agreement, an early amortization event occurs under the lending agreement if the lender’s agent notifies the indenture trustee that an early amortization event has occurred. As a result of downgrades in our servicer ratings, the lender has the right to deliver such notice at any time. The lender has agreed not to deliver such a notice to the indenture trustee subject to its ongoing monthly review. If an early amortization event occurs and is not waived by the lender, no new advances can be funded under the facility, all collections on advances funded through the facility must be used to pay interest and principal on currently outstanding borrowings under the facility, minimum facility balance repayments would be instituted, and the interest rate margin on 1-month LIBOR would increase. At March 31, 2015, we had $348.3 million of borrowings outstanding under this facility out of a maximum borrowing capacity of $400.0 million. The scheduled date to begin amortization of this facility is June 2015. As described below under “Recent Actions,” one of our commitment letters provides for replacement financing should the existing lender seek not to renew or extend the revolving period upon its completion in June 2015. |
Downgrades in our servicer ratings could also affect the terms and availability of debt financing facilities that we may seek in the future. |
Our failure to maintain minimum or specified ratings could adversely affect our dealings with contractual counterparties, including GSEs, and regulators, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financing activities, financial condition and results of operations. |
Regulatory Uncertainties |
As a result of the current regulatory environment, we have faced, and expect to continue to face, increased regulatory and public scrutiny as well as stricter and more comprehensive regulation of our business. We have recently entered into a number of regulatory settlements which have significantly impacted our ability to grow our servicing portfolio and which subject us to ongoing monitoring or reporting. See Note 18 - Regulatory Requirements and Note 20 - Contingencies for further information regarding regulatory requirements, our recent regulatory settlements and regulatory-related contingencies. |
To the extent that an examination or other regulatory engagement reveals a failure by us to comply with applicable law, regulation or licensing requirement, or if we fail to comply with the commitments we have made under our regulatory settlements or if other regulatory actions are taken in the future against us of a similar or different nature, this could lead to (i) loss of our licenses and approvals to engage in our servicing and lending businesses, (ii) governmental investigations and enforcement actions, (iii) administrative fines and penalties and litigation, (iv) civil and criminal liability, including class action lawsuits, (v) breaches of covenants and representations under our servicing, debt or other agreements, (vi) inability to raise capital and (vii) inability to execute on our business strategy. Any of these occurrences could increase our operating expenses and reduce our revenues, hamper our ability to grow or otherwise materially and adversely affect our business, reputation, financial condition and results of operations. |
Our Relationship with HLSS |
We have sold rights to receive servicing fees, excluding ancillary income, with respect to certain non-Agency MSRs (Rights to MSRs), together with the related servicing advances, to HLSS. As of March 31, 2015 and through the date of HLSS’ sale transaction with New Residential Investment Corp. (NRZ) on April 6, 2015, we were dependent upon HLSS for financing of servicing advance obligations for loans underlying Rights to MSRs where we are the servicer but HLSS assumed this obligation under the terms of our agreements with HLSS. HLSS, in turn, was dependent upon its advance financing facilities in order to fund a substantial portion of the servicing advances that it was contractually obligated to make pursuant to our agreements with HLSS. As of March 31, 2015, we were the servicer on Rights to MSRs pertaining to approximately $156.3 billion in UPB and the associated outstanding servicing advances as of such date were approximately $5.8 billion. |
HLSS’ advance funding facilities had a 364-day term and the revolving periods for a significant portion of their advance funding facilities were scheduled to end in 2015. We are contractually required under our servicing agreements to make the relevant servicing advances even if HLSS did not, or was unable to, perform in accordance with its contractual obligations to fund those advances. If an event of default were to be determined, HLSS’ advance financing facilities revolving periods would terminate and the facilities would begin amortization. There were no provisions under which Ocwen would have been obligated to repay the HLSS advance financing facilities upon an event of default by HLSS. Instead, Ocwen, as servicer, would have been immediately responsible for all new advances. We do not have any committed or executed financial arrangements to provide for this need should it arise, and we cannot provide any assurances that such financing would be available, or if available, could be obtained at terms and conditions acceptable to us. |
On April 6, 2015, HLSS closed on the sale of substantially all of its assets to NRZ. Following the sale, NRZ, is the owner of the Rights to MSRs and related advances and has assumed HLSS’ rights and obligations under the associated agreements. NRZ is a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, whose business is focused on investing in, and actively managing, investments related to residential real estate, including MSRs. NRZ is externally managed and advised by an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group LLC, a global investment management organization. |
Recent Actions |
To address the uncertainties set forth above, we have proactively engaged with our lenders to address our maturing debt agreements. Recent financing developments include the following: |
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• | On April 17, 2015, we entered into an agreement with a lender to provide, subject to a definitive master repurchase agreement and other funding conditions, up to $125.0 million of backup financing for new loan originations should existing facilities not renew at their maturity date. |
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• | On April 17, 2015, we entered into an amendment to the SSTL facility agreement. Effective as of April 20, 2015, the amendment, among other things (1) removed, with respect to the 2014 fiscal year, the requirement that our financial statements and the related audit report must be unqualified as to going concern; and (2) extended the required time period for delivery of the 2014 audited financial statements to May 29, 2015. |
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• | On May 11, 2015, we entered into an agreement with a global financial institution to refinance, subject to definitive documentation, the maintenance of our current servicer ratings with Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services, and other funding conditions, $500.0 million of commitments under an existing $1.8 billion servicing advance financing facility and to extend the applicable revolving period to or beyond March 31, 2016. |
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• | Prior to the issuance of these unaudited consolidated financial statements, we entered into amendments or obtained waivers from each lender, to the extent necessary, extending the contractually required time period for delivery of audited financial statements for fiscal year 2014 to May 29, 2015. |
On April 6, 2015, we entered into an amendment to certain of the agreements governing our relationship with HLSS. In consideration of our consent to the assignment by HLSS to NRZ of all HLSS’ right, title and interest in, to and under our arrangements with HLSS (including the Rights to MSRs), the amendment, among other things: |
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• | extended the term during which we are scheduled to be the servicer on loans underlying the Rights to MSRs (along with the associated economic benefits) for two additional years or until April 30, 2020, whichever is earlier, which would depend on the sale date for the applicable Rights to MSRs (existing terms ranged from February 2018 through October 2019 prior to the amendment); |
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• | provided that such extension will not apply with respect to any servicing agreement that, as of the date that it was scheduled to terminate under our original agreements, is affected by an uncured termination event due to a downgrade of our servicer rating to “Below Average” or lower by S&P or to “SQ4” or lower by Moody’s; |
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• | provided that the parties will commence negotiating in good faith for an extension of the contract term and the servicing fees payable to us no later than six months prior to the end of the applicable term as extended pursuant to the amendment; and |
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• | imposed a two-year standstill (until April 6, 2017 and subject to certain conditions) on the rights of NRZ to replace us as servicer. |
In the event there is a future downgrade of our S&P servicer rating below our current rating of “Average,” we have also agreed to compensate NRZ, as successor to HLSS, for certain increased costs associated with its servicing advance financing facilities, including increased costs of funding, to the extent such costs are the direct result of such downgrade. The amendment provided that any such compensation, if required, shall not exceed $3.0 million for any calendar month or $36.0 million in the aggregate. In such an event, NRZ has agreed to use commercially reasonable efforts to assist us in curing any potential cost increases by obtaining amendments to the relevant financing agreements. |
Consistent with our strategic plan to sell a significant portion of our Agency MSRs, we have announced or completed a number of asset sales, including the following: |
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• | On March 2, 2015, we signed a letter of intent with JPMorgan Chase & Co. for the sale of MSRs on a portfolio consisting of approximately 250,000 performing Agency loans owned by Fannie Mae with a total UPB of approximately $42.0 billion. On May 13, 2015, we signed a definitive agreement having obtained all necessary approvals. This transaction is scheduled to close on June 1, 2015. In connection with this transaction, on April 17, 2015, we entered into a letter agreement with Fannie Mae pursuant to which we will designate a portion of the expected proceeds as prepayments to secure against certain future obligations. These future obligations include repurchases, indemnifications and various fees. The total cash pre-payments are $15.4 million, including $3.2 million paid on April 27, 2015 with the remainder to be paid on June 1, 2015. Another $37.5 million of escrowed collateral will be set aside on June 1, 2015 to secure potential future obligations not covered by the prepaid amount. |
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• | On March 18, 2015, OLS and Green Tree Loan Servicing, a subsidiary of Walter Investment Management Corp. (collectively Walter), signed an agreement in principle for the sale of residential MSRs on a portfolio consisting of approximately 54,000 largely performing loans owned by Freddie Mac with a total UPB of approximately $9.2 billion. We executed a definitive agreement on April 29, 2015 and initial funding occurred on April 30, 2015. We expect that servicing will begin to transfer on or around June 16, 2015. |
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• | On March 24, 2015, we announced that OLS and Nationstar Mortgage LLC, an indirectly held, wholly owned subsidiary of Nationstar Mortgage Holdings Inc. (collectively, “Nationstar”), have agreed in principle to the sale of residential MSRs on a portfolio consisting of approximately 140,000 loans owned by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae with a total UPB of approximately $24.9 billion. We closed on the sale of a portion of these MSRs, with a total UPB of approximately $2.7 billion, on April 30, 2015. The sale of the remaining MSRs, subject to a definitive agreement, approvals by Fannie Mae and FHFA and other customary conditions, is expected to close in June 2015. |
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• | On March 31, 2015, OLS closed on a sale agreement with Nationstar for the sale of residential MSRs on a portfolio consisting of 76,000 performing loans owned by Freddie Mac with a UPB of $9.1 billion. Servicing was successfully transferred on April 16, 2015. |
We currently expect to receive approximately $860.0 million of proceeds from the above described transactions, subject in each case to necessary approvals and the satisfaction of closing conditions. We expect that the majority of such proceeds will be used for prepayments under our SSTL. In addition, on April 30, 2015, we announced agreements with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to sell portfolios of non-performing loan servicing. We expect these transactions to close over the coming months, with the first transfer having occurred on May 1, 2015. These transactions will include payments to the GSEs to assume the delinquent servicing and may, in some cases, include settlements of certain indemnification obligations. We expect these transactions to be cash flow positive as we will be reimbursed for outstanding advances. |
We have been, and continue to, engage in communications with the ratings agencies and key stakeholders, including the GSEs, in connection with recent and planned future actions and developments, including the uncertainties identified above. |
We also continue to work with our regulators, including the CFPB and state regulators and attorneys general, on enhancing our risk and compliance management systems and remediating deficiencies. We are currently unaware of any significant unresolved issues with state agencies and not aware of, nor anticipating, any material regulatory fines, penalties or settlements. We are not aware of any pending or threatened actions to suspend or revoke any state licenses. |
There can be no assurances that management’s recent and future actions will be successful in mitigating the above risks and uncertainties in our business. |
Note 1B - Basis of Presentation |
The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in conformity with the instructions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to Form 10-Q and SEC Regulation S-X, Article 10, Rule 10-01 for interim financial statements. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (GAAP) for complete financial statements. In our opinion, the accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements contain all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, necessary for a fair presentation. The results of operations and other data for the three months ended March 31, 2015 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any other interim period or for the year ending December 31, 2015. The unaudited consolidated financial statements presented herein should be read in conjunction with the audited consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014. |
Reclassifications |
Within the Other income (expense) section of the unaudited Consolidated Statement of Operations for the three months ended March 31, 2014, we reclassified Interest income from Other, net to a separate line item to conform to the current year presentation. |
Certain insignificant amounts in the unaudited Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows for the three months ended March 31, 2014 have been reclassified to conform to the current year presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on our consolidated cash flows from operating, investing or financing activities. |
Use of Estimates and Assumptions |
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires that management make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period and the related disclosures in the accompanying notes. Such estimates and assumptions include, but are not limited to, those that relate to fair value measurements, the provision for potential losses that may arise from litigation proceedings, and representation and warranty and other indemnification obligations. In developing estimates and assumptions, management uses all available information; however, actual results could materially differ because of uncertainties associated with estimating the amounts, timing and likelihood of possible outcomes. |