Monday Morning Cup of Coffee takes a look at news coming across the HousingWire weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues.

The housing finance industry is gathering this week in Denver, as the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual event kicked off.

Here’s the latest report from HousingWire’s Senior Financial Reporter Ben Lane:

The early word out of MBA Annual 2017 is that companies in the mortgage space are looking hard at technology, right now and in the future.

On the flight to Denver on Sunday afternoon, I happened to be sitting next to an executive for a company that specializes in artificial intelligence (AI). He was on his way to the conference too, and was scheduled to take meetings with some folks in the industry who are looking at how AI can be utilized in the mortgage space. I won’t name his company (since our conversation was casual and off the record), but he said that his company does work for Wall Street, which is already using AI in stock trades and things of that nature.

Once I got to Denver, technology talk was all the rage too. During the Sunday afternoon general session, entitled “Digital Disruption – The Future of Work, Skills and Careers in a Digital World,” lots of techy buzzwords were thrown around. Blockchain, AI, machine learning, big data, even 3D printing (of houses, that is) were among the topics of discussion for the panelists: Mary Ann McGarry, president and CEO and partner at Guild Mortgage, David Schneider, CEO at Stearns Lending, and Ramon Richards , senior vice president, securitization and credit technology at Fannie Mae.

It’s early yet, but it’s probably a safe bet that there will be much more tech talk over the course of the next couple days. And we’ll bring it all to you.

Our editorial team is already hard at work to bring HousingWire readers a bird’s-eye view of the conference.

Sitting down with @MBAMortgage's Ashley Gunn to discuss getting more young mortgage talent into the space! #MBAmPact pic.twitter.com/LfkoTIZBGX

— Brena Swanson (@BrenaSwanson) October 23, 2017

Keep reading the site for the latest updates from the event, and follow us on Twitter for live updates: @HousingWire, @BenLaneHW, @BrenaSwanson and @JacobGaffney. You can also search #HWatMBA17 and #MBAAnnual17.

As President Donald Trump prepares to select the next Federal Reserve chair, experts explained his decision could show what’s most important to the administration: low rates or deregulation.

A new report from Capital Economics explains current Fed Chair Janet Yellen is fairly dovish on interest rates, making her presumable favorable to Trump, who describes himself as a “low-interest rate guy.”

However, Yellen’s post-crisis tightening of financial regulation seems to be a deal breaker for Trump, the report explained. On the other hand, current Fed Governor Jerome Powell, who the president seems to be leaning toward, could be a good compromise as he aligns with Yellen on the interest rate outlook, but is more open to loosening financial regulation.

In the end, Capital Economics explained the final decision will depend on where Trump’s priorities lie.

“But there is still uncertainty over exactly what criteria Trump will use to judge his five candidates and it is still possible that Trump will have a late change of heart,” the report stated. “If it turns out that a commitment to deregulation is more important than keeping rates low, then that could open the door to a much more hawkish Fed under the control of either Kevin Warsh or John Taylor. Under those circumstances, we would expect to see an immediate rise in Treasury yields.”

In preparation for MBAAnnual, many companies are announcing their latest technology developments and even new leadership.

At the convention, Capsilon Corp. unveiled its new digital mortgage platform, which uses the cloud and intelligent process automation to transform existing mortgage process to a modern digital factory.

The digital mortgage factory will provide an end-to-end experience which includes a data-driven digital process which streamlines the mortgage production and servicing production.

The company also launched its Point of Sale Solutions for third-party mortgage originators, loan officers and consumers. This portal will go beyond online applications to and serve as an entry point to the modern digital mortgage factory.

This product will allow originators to increase their efficiency by streamlining pricing and automatically generating a list of required documents based on the loan program chosen.

Movement Mortgage also made a major announcement, naming Henry Santos as its new chief information officer.

Previously, Santos led IBM’s global mortgage business services unit. Before that he served as partner at The Capital Markets Co. and managing director as Accenture Credit Services.

In his new role, Santos will lead Movement’s strategy to design, develop and integrate advanced computing services into a cognitive, automated and digital lending experience.

“The key to our success has been the ability to constantly evolve to meet new demands, react to competitive threats and manage growth intelligently,” Santos said. “Our future success will be driven by how we respond to advances in technology and data science that are disrupting every industry in the economy, especially financial services.”

Stay tuned the rest of the week as HousingWire’s editorial team brings you the latest news from MBA Annual. But don’t worry, I’ll still be holding down the fort at headquarters to make sure you don’t miss everything else happening in the industry!

Have a great week!