Chris Morton has taken the helm at the American Land Title Association (ALTA) as the title insurance industry faces challenges on multiple fronts — from regulatory pressure and a slow housing market to increased cybersecurity threats.
HousingWire recently caught up with ALTA’s new CEO to discuss these challenges, the future of title insurance and his first six weeks on the job.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Brooklee Han: What do you feel are some of the biggest challenges currently facing the title industry?
Chris Morton: One is the increasing sophistication of criminal actors, cybercrime and fraud. That is one thing we are so vigilant on right now because, every day, there are all sorts of attempts and we have to prepare our members to tackle that.
Additionally, over recent years, we’ve seen an increasing amount of regulatory burden placed on the industry. Most of the time it is well intentioned in terms of the objective, but the challenge is the way it is done, and perhaps that is due to policymakers not being informed on how the business and the marketplace operate. So, our job is to educate regulators and policymakers on how we work and what is best for the industry.
A perfect example of this is the new Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) mandatory reporting rule. The rule is going to incorporate potentially 850,000 real estate transactions on an annual basis into the mandatory reporting program, costing the industry almost half a billion dollars annually.
That is not insignificant, especially at a time when the real estate market is challenged — (mortgage) rates are high, supply is low. And this challenge is coming when there are these questions about homebuying affordability and the cost of title insurance, so our companies are eating a lot of these additional costs. At some point, there has to be an acknowledgement of what these regulatory asks mean for small businesses.
Then, as I alluded to, the cyclical nature of the real estate market is always a challenge. It is great in good times and not so great when the market is down, but the good thing is that our industry is adaptive.
BH: How is ALTA helping title industry professionals work through these challenges?
Morton: Where I would start is, the organization is so strong and the team is great, and I think that sets us up to handle anything that comes at us. We’ve always prided ourselves on helping our members and industry navigate complexity and turn those challenges into opportunities.
We do that in a number of ways — through education, training for our members at meetings and events, and the development of tools and best practices to help people stay on the cutting edge and really understand what is coming at them.
On top of that, we are focused on our advocacy efforts to ensure that our members are prepared and positioned for success across all of those major challenges. So far, as an organization, I think we have a great track record for helping our members succeed.
One thing in particular that we are focused on right now is the Dec. 1 implementation date of the FinCEN mandatory real estate reporting rule. We just came out of a very successful bootcamp training session that we did with our members to help them understand what the rule entails, how to collect the information, report it back and comply appropriately.
During the training, a number of questions arose, and we are going to use those to continue to engage in dialogue with FinCEN to gain clarity. We are also using this as an opportunity to continue a dialogue with policymakers about the challenges, barriers and burdens associated with that rule-making, particularly given that our industry is 90% small businesses.
So in addition to educating members, we are also continuing our work to educate policymakers and FinCEN, so in the future we can tailor this and other rules to reduce that burden.
BH: What about the cybersecurity challenges?
Morton: We are always looking at making sure we have the tools and resources available to our members to stay abreast of what they need to be successful in taking on the criminal actors that are coming at them.
We are also always looking to develop partnerships outside of the organization with agencies at the federal and state levels, like the FBI and attorneys general, to make sure they are understanding what these threats look like. We also partner with these agencies and consumer groups, like AARP, to build awareness and education.
BH: In speaking with a variety of housing industry professionals, people in the title insurance industry always seem to be some of the most focused on cybersecurity and technology. But at the same time, the industry has a reputation for being antiquated. Can you share some thoughts on this and what you’re seeing in terms of current technology trends within the title industry?
Morton: I challenge the idea that our industry is antiquated, and I think a good example is what happened during COVID. Our industry was the most innovative and creative in figuring out how to make closings happen by using technology like remote online notarization to drive the real estate market forward and ultimately help drive the greater economy. It is due to our leadership that now almost all states in the U.S. have adopted RON.
Over the last decade, our industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars investing in technological advancement. A great example of that is title decision engines that are a major part of every major underwriting operation. The ability to search title plant data has advanced the speed and efficiency of that time spent moving through the title search process to get to a place where the critical work of title experts and title professionals can be done.
BH: What is something in the title industry that excites you right now?
Morton: At the end of the day, the title industry is always exciting because it is driven by people who really care and by professionals who take what they are doing very seriously in protecting something that is so integral to our way of life in America. And that makes me proud to be a part of things and to help lead in whatever small way I can alongside our great team. Professionals in our industry are constantly being creative, thinking outside of the box and that is just really special.
The other thing that excites me is how these professionals are at the core of the communities they live in and just how much they care. This is the foundation of the work we have done at the Good Deeds Foundation, which was something else that spawned out of COVID when we saw all of our members getting involved in their communities — helping at food banks, volunteering at hospitals and shelters, and just doing things outside of closing real estate transactions.
We established the Good Deeds Foundation to give grants through fundraising we do with our members to give funds to nonprofits in their communities. Since 2020, we have given $1.25 million to more than 213 local nonprofits across the country.
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