§6713 Title Insurance Activities of National Banks and Their Affiliates

Summary

National banks may not underwrite or sell title insurance. But if banks chartered by a particular State are allowed to sell title insurance as agents in that State, a national bank can also sell title insurance as an agent there — only in the same way, to the same extent, and under the same limits as those State banks. A State law that simply gives State banks the same powers as national banks does not count as permission to sell title insurance as an agent. A national bank and its subsidiary may keep doing title insurance work they were actively and lawfully doing before November 12, 1999, except in two cases: if the bank has an affiliate (a related company that is not owned by the bank) that sells insurance as principal, the bank and its subsidiaries may not underwrite title insurance; and if the bank has only a subsidiary (a company the bank owns or controls) that sells insurance as principal and no other affiliates, the bank itself may not directly underwrite title insurance. Federal law does not override any State law in effect before November 12, 1999, that completely bans title insurance in that State.