Compliance through Document Processing.

Mr. Kushel is president & CEO, Archive Systems, based in Fairfield, N.J.. The company provides document management outsourcing.

Everyone's talking about compliance in the mortgage industry and increasingly companies are paying particular attention to how document processing fits in. Lenders struggling to manage massive amounts of paper documents while complying with regulatory guidelines are looking for a simple way to handle such a complex part of their business process.

When you're dealing with Sarbanes-Oxley, additional federal regulatory framework, and different types of disclosure requirements in each state, making sure each document is compliant is no simple task. That's why document processing and compliance initiatives are directly linked.

In the past document management was typically under the responsibility of the COO or legal department. With compliance becoming an enterprise-wide issue, companies are beginning to put the role of document/records management under a Chief Compliance Officer.

At New York Mortgage Company, Chief Compliance Officer Jonathan Foxx decided to take the record retrieval process under his wing. Mr. Foxx wanted to make sure every single regulation with respect to archiving was being maintained and that everything was in place. He believes that archiving is a vital link between operations and compliance and views records management as a collaborative effort. Putting it in place correctly is what's critical.

"I make sure the company's archiving and record retention is functioning correctly. Records management is an important part of the serious decisions we make about how to carefully take care of our bulk sales and our flow sales," Mr. Foxx said. "I believe a strong compliance department now, in our day and age, is at the epicenter of the company's legal and regulatory compliance activities."

With companies like NYMC undertaking document processing as an enterprise-wide issue, it's emerging as a key part of a company's plan to achieve and maintain compliance. With regulations pushing companies towards this holistic approach, there are a few ways they are dealing with the management of documents.