First American Title Company

The First American Corporation (NYSE: FAF) is a United States Fortune 500 financial services company specializing in the surety and title insurance industry.

The First American Corporation is a California corporation and has its executive offices in Santa Ana, California. The First American Corporation, through its subsidiaries, is engaged in the business of providing business information and related products and services. The Company has five reporting segments that fall within two primary business groups, financial services and information technology.

As of December 31, 2007, First American had 37,354 employees in the United States and abroad.

History

Orange County Title Company (1894–1960)

The First American Corporation began as Orange County Title Company in 1894 when Charles Edward Parker (C.E. Parker), a businessman in Orange County, California, merged two competing title companies. 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 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 and Orange County Title was soon operating in four states.

First American Title Insurance (1960–2000)

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 in 1964 and, two years later, was restructured with the formation of The First American Financial Corporation as a holding company. First American Title became a subsidiary company and a trust business was conducted through First American Trust Company.

First American Title and other title subsidiaries developed the title aspect of the business 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 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 and president of First American Title since 1989, assumed the presidency of the parent corporation in 1993. On December 3, 1993, the company moved its shares to the New York Stock Exchange.

The First American Corporation (2000-present)

First American Title Insurance was renamed The First American Corporation in May 2000 to reflect the expansion of services beyond title insurance.

In recent years, a large part of First American’s development has centered on a multiple brand strategy. First American’s Credit Information Group was transferred to First Advantage Corporation, a majority-owned subsidiary of The First American Corporation. First American now provides real estate information and First Advantage provides risk mitigation and business solutions. First American continues to expand into businesses that operate independent of, or counter to, real estate cycles.

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

Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures

First Indian Corporation Private Limited

The First Indian Corporation Private Limited (FIC), a subsidiary of The First American Corporation, is a leading provider of offshore transaction and technology services to the Real Estate Information and Mortgage Industry with over 6,600+ professionals in offices at Bangalore , Hyderabad and Mangalore. This was set up in 2001 and has grown multifold . The President of the company is Scott Brinkely and India operations are headed by the country manager, Anoop Hegde.

First American Thrift

FDIC insured industrial bank which specializes in loans secured by commercial property in Southern California. The thrift offers a liquid account which pays the current T-bill rate. Single branch located in Orange,CA.

RELS LLC

RELS LLC (Real Estate Lending Solutions) is a joint venture holding company formed in 1998 by First American and Norwest Mortgage Inc. (now Wells Fargo Home Mortgage) containing companies which provide credit, appraisal, title and settlement products and services for the lending industry.

First American Core Logic

First American CoreLogic was formed through the merger of First American Real Estate Solutions, a provider of advanced property and ownership information, analytics and services, and CoreLogic, a leading provider of residential mortgage risk management and fraud protection technology and services. The combined companies’ databases cover more than 3,000 counties, representing 99.1 percent of the United States population. With more than 600,000 users nationwide, First American CoreLogic products are used by businesses to improve customer acquisition and retention, detect and prevent fraud, improve mortgage transaction cycle time and cost efficiency, measure the value of residential and commercial properties, identify real estate trends and neighborhood characteristics, track market performance and increase market share.

First American Trust, FSB

A wholly owned subsidiary of The First American Corporation for over four decades, First American Trust’s services include trust and estate administration, trust real estate asset management, and investment management. The company also offers management and oversight of closely held business entities whose primary asset holdings are investment properties.

First American Trust also provides institutional banking services that include wire transfer solutions tailored to meet the specific needs of the title and escrow industry. The banking division also provides banking and escrow deposit services, as well as interest and non-interset bearing accounts.

External links

• First American Corporation website (FirstAm.com)
• First Advantage Corporation website (FADV.com)
• First American CoreLogic website (FACoreLogic.com)
• First Indian Corporation a 100% subsidiary for offshore operations(firstindiancorp.com)
• First American Trust website (FirstAmTrust.com)

..

References

1. ^ The First American Corporation -- Company History
2. ^ First American - Company History
3. ^ National Real Estate Investor Trendlines

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