Mortgage settlement monitor says Ocwen's compliance review may be inaccurate; hires accountant

The monitor overseeing a national mortgage settlement says an internal review of its compliance conducted by Ocwen Financial Corp., one of the biggest U.S. servicers of home loans, may not have provided accurate accounting.

Joseph Smith, who is monitoring banks' and mortgage servicers' compliance with the $25 billion settlement over foreclosure abuses, said Tuesday he has hired an independent accounting firm to "re-test" Ocwen's progress in the first half of the year. Smith said he started investigating in May after an Ocwen employee alleged there were "serious deficiencies" in the company's review. The employee's complaint raised questions about the review's independence from Ocwen management, Smith said in a report.

Atlanta-based Ocwen said Tuesday it has made changes to its review process to make it more independent.