First American Corporation - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

This article is about First American Financial Corporation (formerly known as The First American Corporation)

First American Financial Corporation is a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

financial services company and is a leading provider of title insurance

Title insurance

Title insurance is a form of indemnity insurance predominantly found in the United States which insures against financial loss from defects in title to real property and from the invalidity or unenforceability of mortgage liens. Title insurance is principally a product developed and sold in the...

and settlement services to the real estate and mortgage industries.

First American provides financial services through its Title Insurance and Services segment and its Specialty Insurance segment. The First American Family of Companies’ core business lines include title insurance

Title insurance

and closing

Closing (real estate)

Closing is the final step in executing a real estate transaction.The closing date is set during the negotiation phase, and is usually several weeks after the offer is formally accepted. On the closing date, the parties consummate the purchase contract, and ownership of the property is transferred...

/settlement services; title plant management services; title and other real property records and images; valuation products and services; home warranty

Home warranty

A Home warranty is a service contract that covers the repair and replacement costs of home appliances. The warranty generally covers equipment and appliances such as dishwashers, plumbing systems, electrical systems etc. that fail due to normal wear and tear. Coverage varies significantly across...

products; property and casualty insurance

Home insurance

Home insurance, also commonly called hazard insurance or homeowner's insurance , is the type of property insurance that covers private homes...

; and banking, trust

Trust company

A trust company is a corporation, especially a commercial bank, organized to perform the fiduciary of trusts and agencies. It is normally owned by one of three types of structures: an independent partnership, a bank, or a law firm, each of which specializes in being a trustee of various kinds of...

and investment advisory services.

First American serves homebuyers and sellers, real estate professionals, loan originators and servicers, commercial property professionals, homebuilders and others involved in residential and commercial property transactions with products and services specific to their needs.

First American offers its products and services directly and through its agents and partners throughout the United States and in more than 60 countries.

In June 2010, First American Financial Corporation was established when The First American Corporation split its businesses to create two separate legal entities, First American Financial Corporation which provides title and financial services and CoreLogic Inc. which provides information solutions and analytics services to the real estate and mortgage industry.

Orange County Title Company (1894–1960)

First American traces its roots to 1889, when Orange County, California

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

—a rural, undeveloped area at the time—split off from the county of Los Angeles. Two firms opened to handle title matters in the brand-new county. Five years later, Charles Edward Parker (C.E. Parker), a local businessman, succeeded in merging the two competitors into a single entity—Orange County Title Company. C.E. Parker became the president of Orange County Title, which, starting in 1909, would pay a cash dividend every year for the rest of the century and would become one of the first abstract companies in California to qualify to issue title insurance

Title insurance

policies.

Donald Parker Kennedy (D.P. Kennedy), grandson of C.E. Parker, joined Orange County Title in 1948. D.P. Kennedy developed a plan to expand the company beyond Orange County, which was approved by the board of directors in 1957. The first branch office was established shortly thereafter in Ventura, California

Ventura, California

Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...

and Orange County Title was soon operating in

First American Title Insurance and Trust Company(1960–1968)

Orange County Title was renamed First American Title Insurance in 1960 to reflect operations beyond Orange County,

D.P. Kennedy was named president of First American Title in 1963, replacing his uncle, George Parker. First American Title had its initial public offering on the over-the-counter market

Over-the-counter (finance)

Within the derivatives markets, many products are traded through exchanges. An exchange has the benefit of facilitating liquidity and also mitigates all credit risk concerning the default of a member of the exchange. Products traded on the exchange must be well standardised to transparent trading....

in 1964 and, four years later, was restructured with the formation of The First American Financial Corporation as a holding company

Holding company

A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...

. First American Title became a subsidiary

Subsidiary

A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...

company and a trust business was conducted through First American Trust Company.

The First American Financial Corporation(1968–2000)

First American expanded its title operations across the nation by opening new offices and acquiring existing title and abstract companies. This growth lead to an expansion of the company's Santa Ana headquarters in 1976. By 1982, First American served all regions of the United States. First American began to operate internationally with the opening of title insurance offices in Canada in 1988. First American continued to develop international operations and was the first title insurance provider in Mexico, Korea and Hong Kong, and had the leading market share in Australia and England.

First American had also been incorporating additional business lines since 1984, including establishment of a home warranty

Home warranty

subsidiary, a real estate tax service, a credit reporting company, and a flood certification company. In 1986, First American began to acquire business information companies involved in the real estate transfer business.

First American introduced a tax monitoring service in 1987, which, after being supplemented by a 1991 purchase of TRTS Data Services, made First American the second largest provider of tax monitoring services in the United States. In 1991, the credit reporting and tax monitoring ventures were merged into a new subsidiary, First American Real Estate Information Services, Inc., which operated in technological areas, such as servicing software systems and database products involving property information, appraisal, automated title plans and document imaging.

First American also focused heavily on its mortgage credit reporting business. First American acquired Metropolitan Credit Reporting Services, Inc., Metropolitan Property Reporting Services, Inc., California Credit Data, Inc. and Prime Credit Reports, Inc. in 1994. First American added CREDCO, Inc. in 1995, making it the largest mortgage credit reporting service in the country, based on the number of reports issued.

Parker S. Kennedy, the son of D.P. Kennedy was named president of First American Title in 1989 and assumed the presidency of the parent corporation in 1993. On December 3, 1993, the company moved its shares to the New York Stock Exchange

New York Stock Exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...

The First American Corporation (2000-2010)

The First American Financial Corporation was renamed The First American Corporation in May 2000 to reflect the expansion of services beyond financial services and title insurance. As First American grew to become one of the nation's largest title insurance, specialty insurance and trust services providers, its data storehouse, analytics capabilities and business services capacity grew in tandem. By 2008, First American had grown to become the nation's preeminent real estate information business.

The First American Family of Companies grew to operate within five business segments, including: Title Insurance and Services, Specialty Insurance, Mortgage Information, Property Information, and Risk Mitigation and Business Solutions. First American had approximately 2,100 offices throughout the United States and abroad.

First American Financial Corporation (2010-present)

In June 2010, The First American Corporation split to create two highly focused companies serving the distinct needs of customers across diverse industries. The title insurance and settlement services of The First American Corporation became First American Financial Corporation while the property information and analytics businesses became CoreLogic Inc.

Today, the company continues to be commonly referred to as First American and serves homebuyers and sellers, real estate professionals, loan originators and servicers, commercial property professionals, homebuilders, and others involved in residential and commercial property transactions with products and services specific to their businesses. Those services include title insurance and closing/settlement services; property data, and title plant records and images; home warranties; property and casualty insurance; and banking, trust, and advisory services.

Products and services

First American serves homebuyers and sellers, real estate professionals, loan originators and servicers, commercial property professionals, homebuilders, and others involved in residential and commercial property transactions with products and services specific to their needs. First American provides title insurance and closing/settlement services; title plant management services; title and other real property records and images; valuation products and services; home warranty

Home warranty

products; property and casualty insurance

Home insurance

Home insurance, also commonly called hazard insurance or homeowner's insurance , is the type of property insurance that covers private homes...

; and banking, trust

Trust company

and investment advisory services.

Spin-off

June 1, 2010 marked the separation of the First American Corporation's financial services operations and its information solutions businesses into two independent public companies. The spin-off was intended to allow First American to focus solely on its core businesses.

As part of a spin-off transaction, First American Financial Corporation common stock was distributed to shareholders of The First American Corporation on June 1, 2010. The First American Corporation assumed the new name CoreLogic, Inc. on that day. The shares of both companies traded on a “when-issued” basis from May 24, 2010 through June 1, 2010, and began full-fledged trading on the New York Stock Exchange on June 2, 2010; First American Financial Corporation under the ticker symbol FAF, and CoreLogic, Inc. under the ticker symbol CLGX.

On June 1, 2010, each shareholder received one share of First American Financial Corporation common stock for every share of The First American Corporation common stock held as of the close of business on the record date of May 26, 2010. Shareholders also received a cash payment in lieu of any fractional shares.

First American Title Insurance Company

First American Title Insurance Company provides title insurance

Title insurance

protection and professional settlement services for homebuyers and sellers, real estate agents and brokers, mortgage lenders, commercial property professionals, homebuilders and developers, title agencies and legal professionals to facilitate real estate purchases, construction, refinances or equity loans.

First American Data Tree

First American Data Tree is the US nation’s leading providers of public and digital land records and property information, offering a nation wide database of over 4 billion property recorded land documents of 900 plus counties.
.

Data Trace

Data Trace is a title technology company that provides a standardized title and tax information system that spans the nation and empowers title insurance companies to streamline order processing and title production.

FAF International

FAF International is the international division of First American Financial Corporation and is the leading provider of title insurance and a broad range of related property and financial services to both corporate clients and consumers around the world.

First American Trust, FSB

A wholly owned subsidiary of First American Financial Corporation for more than four decades, First American Trust, FSB provides trust and estate administration, trust real estate asset management, investment management, and a range of deposit products and banking solution

Solution

In chemistry, a solution is a homogeneous mixture composed of only one phase. In such a mixture, a solute is dissolved in another substance, known as a solvent. The solvent does the dissolving.- Types of solutions :...

s to the escrow and real estate industries. First American Trust is chartered as a Federal Savings Bank

Federal Savings Bank

A federal savings bank is a savings and loan association federally chartered in the United States. They are chartered and regulated by the Treasury Department's Office of Thrift Supervision....

with the Office of Thrift Supervision

Office of Thrift Supervision

The Office of Thrift Supervision was a United States federal agency under the Department of the Treasury that charters, supervises, and regulates all federally- and state-chartered savings banks and savings and loans associations. It was created in 1989 as a renamed version of another federal agency...

(OTS).

First American Thrift

First American Thrift is a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass–Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. , the FDIC insures deposits at...

-insured industrial bank which specializes in loans secured by commercial property in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

. The thrift, which has a single branch located in Orange, California, offers a liquid account which pays the current T-bill rate.

First American Property and Casualty Insurance Company

The First American Property & Casualty Insurance Companies offer property and casualty insurance products to home buyers through independent agents and directly through the escrow or closing process.

First American Homebuyers Protection Corporation

First American Home Buyers Protection is a leading provider of home warranties

Home warranty

offering homebuyers and homesellers protection against repairs and replacement on their homes’ essential systems and appliances through service provided by a large network of pre-screened and qualified contractors and technicians.

First American (India)

In 2001, First American established First Indian Corporation Private Limited (FIC), to serve as its offshore provider of technology, transaction and analytics services to the Real Estate and Mortgage Industry. First Indian had more than 4,000 professionals working out of offices in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mangalore.

With the spin off of The First American Corporation into First American Financial Corporation and CoreLogic Inc., First Indian Corporation also split in two groups as First American (India) for financial services and CoreLogic for Information Solutions group in India.

External links

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