Industry News

NextDeal (formerly Digital Docs.net) a developer of Software as a Service solutions designed to assist settlement agents to grow their revenue, is making its encryption software, SafeSend, available to the settlement services industry at no cost. Read on for more details.

There are many reasons you should keep aware of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and its actions. One particular reason is because the bureau is concerned about you — or at least your interactions with consumers. If what you are doing is violating a federal consumer financial law, the CFPB is going to take interest and likely take action. With the amount of power this agency has, that should concern anyone who is working under the CFPB’s purview. Even if you think the bureau can’t touch you, there’s a chance it can. When the bureau opened its doors in July 2011, it took over the regulatory authority for consumer financial laws. You may be wondering why you or your company would be subject to CFPB enforcement if you see yourself as falling into one of the agency’s covered persons categories. The issue is, however, that if anything you do falls within the purview of one or more of those 19 laws, then the bureau’s authority can reach you.

On June 20, the Shawnee, Kansas Municipal Court went live with a new case management system that increases the quality of service to the public, streamlines court processes, and will deliver a substantial long term return on investment for the court and the city. “The city’s partnership with Pioneer Technology Group (PTG) has been very positive, and the Benchmark system has greatly streamlined our workflow,” said Stephen Powell, city clerk in Shawnee. “Benchmark allowed us to become one of the first municipal courts in the state to go paperless, has saved a considerable amount of staff time, and allowed the court to provide better, more reliable, customer service.”

To improve employee knowledge on protecting client information, Alliant National Title Insurance Co. has engaged Real Estate Data Shield to provide training sessions on data privacy and security across its 10-state operating area. The required training arms employees with a keen awareness of the laws, regulations, and regulator expectations relating to safeguarding non-public personal information. “Everyone at Alliant National is being trained in data security, privacy and best practices,” said Chief Information Officer David Sinclair. “We are taking these steps to ensure clients’ non-public personal information is properly protected in our offices and networks.”

Founded 50 years ago by a small group of downstate Illinois lawyers, Attorneys’ Title Guaranty Fund Inc. (ATG) has evolved into a family of companies offering a broad spectrum of services to more than 4,000 lawyers in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. The company now garners revenue in excess of 100 million annually and will issue its three millionth title insurance policy this year. “Our 50th anniversary is a celebration of our founding members and the thousands of law firms and agents who have together built the company into the success it is today,” said Peter Birnbaum, ATG president and chief executive officer. “It’s also a celebration of our staff — loyal stewards of the company who believe in our mission to be the premier lawyer service organization for the benefit of the public.”

The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) launched a Web page on cybersecurity (www.ffiec.gov/cybersecurity.htm).The Web page is a central repository for current and future FFIEC-related materials on cybersecurity. While information security has been a core focus of supervision for decades, the FFIEC members are taking a number of steps to raise awareness of cybersecurity risks at financial institutions and the need to identify, assess and mitigate these risks in light of the increasing volume and sophistication of cyber threats that pose risks to all industries. The FFIEC Web page provides links to joint statements, webinars and other information that may help financial institutions when thinking about the issue of cybersecurity.

Interthinx, a subsidiary of First American Financial Corp. and a provider of comprehensive risk mitigation solutions for the financial services industry, has released its quarterly interactive Mortgage Fraud Risk Report covering data collected in the first quarter of 2014. In the first quarter of 2014, the national Mortgage Fraud Risk Index value was 100, the same value as it was a year ago and down 1 percent from Q4 2013. The national Property Valuation Fraud Risk Index is 128, up 27 percent from last quarter and 17 percent from a year ago. Indicators suggest this increase is driven by persons in certain areas purchasing and listing multiple properties in the same neighborhood. By controlling those markets, these persons have the ability to artificially control the price of a property to their advantage. Another contributing factor observed is the rise of properties being appraised well above traditional valuation thresholds.

Since the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its April 13 bulletin two years ago, lender liability has been an important topic of discussion among lenders and settlement service providers alike. In that time, the industry has made strides to assure comply with regulatory expectations, but those expectations remain unclear. During October Research, LLC’s National Settlement Services Summit this year, George Houghton, group president, agency operations, Stewart Information Services Corp., led a panel discussion with William Burding, executive vice president, general counsel, Orange Coast Title Co.; Penny Reed, vice president, industry outreach-business capabilities development, Wells Fargo Home Mortgage; and Paula-Rose Stark, senior principal, Promontory Financial Group LLC, on how to gain clarity and move forward to address the concerns of lenders and agents.

In addition to networking and education, during the National Settlement Services Summit, time was taken to recognize three individuals who have given to the industry and their community. October Research, LLC, announced the winners in its annual awards program, launched to honor men and women in the mortgage and settlement services industries for exemplary accomplishment in the areas of leadership, innovation and philanthropy.

Locke Lord LLP has strengthened its financial services presence with the addition of Timothy Kemp as partner in the Corporate and Transactional Department, the Consumer Finance Practice Group and the Regulatory and Transactional Insurance Group in the firm’s Chicago office. Kemp joins Locke Lord after a 20-year career with the Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American Financial Corp., where he served most recently as deputy general counsel.