Executive Conversations is a HousingWire web series that profiles powerful people in the financial industry, highlighting the operations and the people that make this sector tick. In the latest installment, we sit down with Rick Thornberry, CEO at Radian, to discuss the company's new vision of One Radian and how they are utilizing data and analytics to drive digital transformation in the industry.
Q. The Radian family of companies includes Clayton, Green River Capital, Red Bell Real Estate, ValuAmerica and Entitle Insurance Company. What vision unites all of these companies?
A. At Radian, we have always been driven by providing our customers with exceptional service and products to grow their business. We are now thrilled to take it one step further with the launch of our new brand identity – One Radian that focuses on building Radian into a market-leading residential mortgage and real estate services enterprise.
The new identity is reflective of our business strategy that will deliver a diversified set of high-value insurance and fee-based products and services, through innovative business models, to market participants across the residential mortgage and real estate value chain that are designed to drive strong growth, value creation and stockholder returns.
The new Radian is dedicated to disrupting existing business models to enable our customers to better transact and manage risk across the mortgage and real estate spectrum. Unlike traditional mortgage insurance companies, we’re able to offer a much broader, more diversified set of products and services to our customers.
That puts us in a unique position to deliver on the mortgage industry’s need for innovation as it adapts to new expectations for speed, transparency and accountability. I encourage everyone to follow our brand journey and learn more about how we are uniting all of our companies at www.radian.com
Q. How is Radian integrating these businesses to better serve customers?
A. Radian is offering a range of products and services that facilitate, enhance and capitalize on opportunities across the residential real estate and mortgage markets. We want to be a force of positive disruption and are committed to creating a new future that strategically leverages technology and data to drive digital transformation of our business and the markets we serve.
We expect to achieve this by reengineering and revolutionizing existing industry business models to significantly enhance the overall value proposition for our customers, building competitive differentiation by continuing to improve our customer service, process quality and operational efficiency, leveraging data and technology to enable our employees and customers to transact with ease across our existing businesses.
We will also enable innovative, digital, and potentially market-disrupting business models and deliver products and services that enable consumers to responsibly and sustainably achieve the American dream of homeownership.
Our strategy behind all of these things is to enable institutional market participants to transact at lower costs, improve quality and enhance transparency, resulting in a better overall mortgage and real estate marketplace.
Q. What is the biggest challenge facing the mortgage industry today?
A. One of the biggest challenges facing our industry is the inability to streamline services and ease the transaction process for customers. Regardless of the advances we’ve made in technology, many of the mortgage industry processes are still manual, and paper based. The mortgage industry is forever evolving, but without much innovation.
Q. How is Radian part of solving that challenge?
A. Whenever there is a change, whether it be in regulation, technology or the economy, there is always an opportunity to succeed and differentiate yourself. And that is just what Radian has done.
We have the opportunity to match the needs of a fast-moving and increasingly digital financial landscape and we’re excited to pull away from the competition and showcase the value proposition of our products and services front and center.
We are driven to exceed our customers' expectations, and whether we’re using proprietary risk analytics for our mortgage insurance solutions, introducing clients to our comprehensive suite of services or streamlining a closing transaction to provide a quick turnaround, Radian is making it easier for our customers to do business with us.
Q. One of your company’s core values is “Innovate for the future.” What does that look like in the next 12 to 18 months?
A. We are building Radian into a market-leading residential mortgage and real estate services enterprise.
To do so, we are committed to being a force of positive disruption and creating a new future that strategically leverages technology and data to drive digital transformation of our business and the markets we serve.
As One Radian we are building upon a great history, but I know our best days are ahead of us. We are a company always thinking outside of the box and developing new strategies and initiatives to benefit our investors and customers. In the next year we're looking to apply not only technology, but data and analytics to drive the future. Stay connected with us at www.radian.com for updates about our progress and brand migration.
