The nation’s largest independent cooperative network for mortgage lenders has announced the creation of a new standing committee called the Mortgage AI Council, aiming to compete with large mortgage institutions with dedicated AI teams.

Under the leadership of The Mortgage Collaborative (TMC), the council “will give community banks, credit unions and independent mortgage bankers the governance frameworks, peer intelligence and collective voice needed to adopt artificial intelligence responsibly as the technology reshapes how lenders originate loans, assess risk and serve borrowers,” according to a press release issued by the group.

Jodi Hall, president and CEO of TMC, noted that the resources available to the largest institutions can’t be matched by most community lenders.

“The Mortgage AI Council exists to change that equation,” Hall commented. “We are not here to observe the AI conversation in this industry. We are here to lead it.”

Amy Azorandia, chief compliance officer at Click n’ Close, and Erin Dee, chief operating officer at InterLinc Mortgage, will co-lead the council. Dee developed the charter and governance structure in partnership with TMC leadership.

“Lenders are being asked to evaluate and implement AI solutions faster than any governance guardrails can keep up with,” stated Dee. “This council gives members a structured way to do that work together, so no one is starting from scratch or making the same expensive mistakes alone.”

TMC says the council’s work “will focus on consolidating fragmented AI governance frameworks into a standard that lenders can implement, facilitating peer knowledge exchange, vetting AI vendors based on member-identified needs, and monitoring regulatory developments in fair lending, model explainability and data privacy.”

All TMC members in good standing are invited to participate at no additional cost. It plans to offer virtual webinars, member roundtables and dedicated sessions at conferences. The group also stated it will publish an annual state of mortgage AI report, “benchmarking adoption and governance maturity across the lender community.”

Hall credited Asif Alam, CEO of ActiveComply, with identifying the need for the council, observing that TMC “is exactly the place to bring it to life.”

“That is what this network was built for,” Hall said. “And the Mortgage AI Council is proof of it.”