Greetings from wintry Chicago where mortgage rates, as they are across the nation, are back to May 2019 levels. Did you know that the name "Chicago" comes from either a Native American word for wild onion, or a striped skunk, depending on one’s mood. Here you don’t have to go too far for a wiener: There are more than 2,000 hot dog stands in the city of Chicago, more than the number of Burger Kings, McDonald's, and Wendy's restaurants in the city combined. Downtown Chicago has 160 million square feet of office space… What will become of it? The managers at lenders and vendors around our biz continue to make decisions about where their staffs work. While most financial institutions are pursuing a return to office work, government agencies including the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency are maintaining remote work, with the Securities and Exchange Commission setting June 6 as a provisional return date. CEOs at banks and other entities say a return to the office is important for firms' culture and ability to respond quickly to market conditions, and SIFMA President and CEO Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr. says it is preferable for executives and regulators to be able to meet face to face when needed. (Today’s audio version of the commentary is available here and this week’s is brought to you by SimpleNexus, an nCino company and award-winning developer of mobile-first technology for the modern mortgage lender. Today listen to a wide-ranging interview with Polly Founder and CEO, Adam Carmel, on capital markets trends, margin compression across channels, and who he goes to for advice.)