Gross revenues, minus transaction fees, rose 3% from a year ago to $2.41 billion. Operating income rose 6% to $1.17 billion, with an operating margin of 49%.
ICE Mortgage Technology posted revenue of $528 million, up 4% from a year earlier, including $137 million in transaction revenue, up 12%. ICE said on the earnings call that growth was driven by its Encompass loan origination platform Electronic registration systems for mortgages (MERS) and maintenance software, with a modest increase in data and analytics revenues.
Mortgage Technology segment operating income for the third quarter was $22 million and operating margin was 4%. On an adjusted basis, operating income was $224 million and adjusted operating margin was 42%.
The company also signed two new customers to its MSP services platform this quarter, both existing Encompass users, for a total of 16 new Encompass customers.
ICE President Benjamin Jackson said AI is transforming ICE’s mortgage business “from systems of record to systems of intelligence.”
ICE uses machine learning to automate underwriting, compliance and customer service processes throughout the loan lifecycle, he said. Customers using ICE’s MSP system are estimated to save 20% to 30% on service fees, a figure the company expects to increase as it deploys new AI-powered capabilities such as predictive call summarization and borrower self-service tools.
Jackson also said ICE is ahead of schedule in repurposing MSP from a mainframe to the modern tech stack, aided by AI-assisted code generation. “We have reduced the expected timeline from seven years to about half,” he said.
In addition to mortgage technology, ICE’s exchange segment generated $1.27 billion in net revenue, supported by growth in data and listing revenue. Fixed income and data services revenue rose 5% to a record $618 million, boosted by price increases and benchmark data and ICE’s data network technology business, which grew 10%.
Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher said ICE’s strategic investment in Polymarkt extends its reach into decentralized prediction markets and complements its data distribution capabilities. “We believe Polymarket’s event-driven data can become an important layer of insight for investors and institutions,” he said.
Chief Financial Officer Warren Gardiner said ICE returned $674 million to shareholders in the quarter and reduced debt, bringing its debt load to about 2.9 times EBITDA.
Gardiner also said ICE is on track for record annual revenue and operating income in 2025. “We expect adjusted operating expenses for the fourth quarter to be in the range of $1.05 billion to $1.15 billion,” he told investors Thursday.
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