Industry News

It’s been more than two years since the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network began requiring title agents and underwriters in certain areas to identify the natural persons behind shell companies used to pay all cash for high-end residential real estate. New legislation being introduced in the Senate looks to make those requirements permanent and nationwide. American Land Title Association (ALTA) Senior Counsel Steve Gottheim talked with The Legal Description about what the move could mean for agents and underwriters.

A University of Miami study on money laundering and real estate in the Miami market, published in December 2017, found that work by the title insurance industry was helping stem the tide of illegal money into the market without harming the broader real estate market. As the Senate considers legislation which would expand geographic targeting orders to the entire nation, the American Land Title Association is asking for agents’ and underwriters’ to share their stories and help make that potential process as least burdensome as possible.

The Senate Banking Committee recently announced that it would postpone its vote whether to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee to become the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to the full Senate for consideration.

MISMO announced that it will create two new groups designed to help improve risk management of third parties, and is looking for industry experts to participate in each. “A collaborative effort to develop best practices and standards that includes lenders, service providers, investors and regulators, offers the opportunity to foster more efficient and productive third party risk management strategies that will benefit lenders, service providers and others,” MISMO Executive Vice President Rick Hill said.

Jaime Kosofsky, founding partner, Brady & Kosofsky PA, began a session on eClosings at the National Settlement Services Summit by stating that although eClosings are talked about as something of the future, they’ve been going on since the early 2000s. This began an in-depth conversation with panelists from a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), major lender and national title agent about where eClosings stand and how to move forward. Read on for more from their conversation.

After it was announced that Michelle Korsmo was resigning her post as chief executive officer of the American Land Title Association, industry leaders shared their gratefulness for Korsmo’s accomplishments during often uncertain economic and political times. Read on for more.

The CEO of the American Land Title Association (ALTA) has accepted another position and resigned from the association, ALTA announced.

Twenty-two industry associations, including the American Land Title Association, Mortgage Bankers Association and National Association of Realtors, wrote a letter to leaders from both parties in Congress, urging them to move to take immediate action to avoid a lapse in the National Flood Insurance Program. Read on for more details.

As Leandra English officially left the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday, her boss told The Legal Description that he never met her – nearly seven months after he came to the bureau as acting director.

The Real Estate Services Providers Council issued a letter on June 18, in response to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s request for information on its adopted rules. Read on for what the association had to say.