EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
New York State Land Title Association
First American Title Insurance Company
666 Third Avenue
New York NY 10017
October 18, 2017
10:30 AM


AGENDA
Call to order – President Estrella
President’s Greeting – President Estrella
Approval of September Minutes - Executive Director Treuber
Exec Director Report – Executive Director Treuber
Approval of the 2018 Budget - Executive Director Treuber
Treasurer’s Report – Ms. Pereyo
Discussion of DFS regulations 206 & 208 – President Estrella
     Government Regulations - Chair Partridge
     Section Chairs Keyse & Giliotti

Committee Reports
New Business
Adjourn

The eleven voting members of the Agents and Abstracters Section will be:
Richard Giliotti  

Bill Collins    

Jean Partridge    

Mark D’Addona
DeAnna Stancanelli    

Paul Spano    

Tommy Tafuri    

Susan Donofrio
Terence Guerriere    

Vince Danzi    

Sarah LaBar    

The next Executive Committee Meeting will be held at 10:30 am on November 14, 2017 at First Nationwide Title Agency, 50 Charles Lindbergh Blvd. Uniondale, NY 11553.

On Monday, June 16, 2017 the NYSLTA submitted formal comments to the NY Department of Financial Services via email.

The letters are attached to this blog post.

The content of the letters was approved by the Executive Committee.

The effort to product these comment letters was a led by the Government Regulations Committee with support from the Officers.

[This is a revised version of a broadly distributed email sent on May 22, 2017]

 

Will you stand?

Will you speak?

Will you act?

The proposed DFS regulations have the potential to turn the title industry upside down.  But together, we can do something about it.

Scroll down to see what the NYSLTA is doing to provide you with the tools and opportunities that will keep the people and companies in the title insurance business a vital part of the real estate finance economy in New York State.

Ring the alarm. Put out the fire.

It is not enough to complain and bring grievances to light. No one knows title insurance better than we do and every time we talk about the problems in these regulations, we will be asked, "What do you want to do about it?"

A vigorous discussion is going on the title industry and the Association is working on releasing a statement that meets the needs of underwriters, agents, abstractrers, attorneys, closers and consumers.

Get off your seat.

We are asking our Members to take the lead and we invite all title professionals to join us in taking action.

First - Sign up for lobby day.  The linked page will explain about meeting in your legislators' local office, how we will schedule the meeting for you and prepare you with Talking Points.  This is super important.

And if are not a member of the Title Action Network (TAN) you should sign up today.

Next - If you can possibly make it, attend the Town Hall meeting on Long Island at 10 AM on June 7. This event is free to everyone but we ask that you pre-register.  We are also planning a live webcast Town Hall later in June.

Best - Attend the annul meeting and convention in Syracuse August 20-23. We have more that unites us than opposition to wrong-headed regulations.  Meet with your peers, build your network and learn how to make your business stronger.

Recently, NYSLTA offered CE webinars on the regulations that control title agents and the security standards required by the federal and state government.

There are many resources for title agents to acquire the information necessary for compliance. (Such as this very web site you are visiting right now.)

There may be no better place to start than the FAQ page of the DFS.

http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/agbrok/title_licfaqs.htm

What you need to know about the GTO

FinCEN is the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, operated by the US Department of the Treasury

GTO is a Geographic Targeting Order

This GTO establishes a pilot program scheduled to run six months, from March to August 2016.

The scope of the program is residential properties in New York County (Manhattan) and Miami-Dade County in Florida, when there is cash transaction of $3,000,000 (three million dollars) or greater.

NYSLTA is working in concert with ALTA, who is playing a major role:

·         ALTA is in contact with FinCEN to clarify terms and definitions in the GTO

·         ALTA will host a call for agents in New York;  FinCEN and the underwriters who received the GTOs will be leading the calls along with ALTA.

·         ALTA is working with the four underwriters on a common notice and fact sheet, which will be the basis of each underwriter’s instructions to their agents.

·         A notice and fact sheet will be developed for the general real estate community and will be co-branded by NAR, ALTA and NYSLTA to help ease concerns in the marketplace as we head into the Spring and Summer buying seasons.

Information collected by the agents as required by the GTO will be reported up to the underwriters, who will submit reports to FinCEN.

Many agents are already collecting purchaser identity information required by NYC Department of Finance (DoF) for the NYC-RPT, so this may be viewed as an incremental requirement.

FinCEN will back-check the GTO reports with data from the NYC DoF to ensure all transactions are reported and the data is both consistent and complete.

FinCEN will publish a FAQ document with additional guidance for the underwriters, which will resolve additional questions and concerns as they arise.

The pilot program has not yet launched and some changes in the reporting protocol may evolve. Stay in touch with your underwriter and check with NYSLTA for further updates.

You can view the GTO here:

 https://www.fincen.gov/news_room/nr/files/Real_Estate_GTO-NYC.pdf

The best explanation to date of the GTO has been prepared and published by our friends at the Florida Land Title Association. We re-print key segments of their report, with permission:

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued orders on Wednesday, January 13, 2016, that will temporarily require certain U.S. title insurance companies to identify the natural persons behind companies used to pay “all cash” for high-end residential real estate in the Borough of Manhattan in New York City, New York, and Miami-Dade County, Florida.

The stated reason underlying these orders is to gather information regarding all-cash purposes of high-end homes by individuals, through the use of companies designed to hide their identities, for the purpose of hiding assets and other money laundering purposes. These orders issued by FinCEN will require title insurance companies, their subsidiaries and agents to identify and report the true “beneficial owner” behind a legal entity involved in these targeted high-end residential real estate transactions in Manhattan and Miami-Dade County. 

The title insurance company, or its subsidiary or agent involved in the transaction, must obtain and record a copy of the driver’s license, passport, or other similar identifying document of this individual and of the “Beneficial Owner,” who is defined as each individual who, directly or indirectly, owns 25% or more of the equity interests of the Purchaser. The form will also report information about the identity of the Purchaser, including the Beneficial Owner of the Purchaser. This form will also report the date of closing, the amount transferred in the form of a monetary instrument and the total purchase price of the residential real property involved. If the Purchaser is a limited liability company, then the form must also include the name, address, and taxpayer identification number of all its members.

The American Land Title Association (“ALTA”) has sent FinCen a letter requesting that the agency define the term “representing the purchaser”… ALTA’s letter proposes that the agency adopt the definition of the term “residential” as it is used under RESPA for purposes of determining whether a “Covered Transaction” has occurred. This letter also recommends that the FinCEN’s Order should not cover transactions when only a de minimis amount of the transaction price (suggested threshold is $10,000.00) is paid via a Monetary Instrument. ALTA’s letter to FinCEN recommends the term “agent” be limited only to people or entities with a contractual relationship with the covered title insurer.