• Title insurance for residential and commercial lenders and owners
  • Chattel title insurance
  • Mortgage processing, escrow and administration
  • Default and mortgage enhancement services
  • Valuation, conveyancing and other related property services

Bank/Lender

FAF International provides insurance solutions to banks and lenders, globally to mitigate the risks associated with real estate lending both in the risk management of current portfolios and providing a competitive advantage in new lending.

New Lending

With the increased competition for deals in the lending market, banks have to look for ways to compete over and above traditional relationships. Typically they would look to compete in four main areas:

  • Leverage
  • Structure
  • Pricing
  • Speed of execution

FAF International can provide insurance solutions to aid lenders in all four of these areas providing bespoke solutions tailored to individual deals that can allow lenders to:

  • Refinance real estate portfolios in days
  • Lend against mortgages that are not registered immediately
  • Close deals on time, every time, despite any problems found in due diligence
  • Facilitate a "subject to status" mortgage offer on a property before a sale is made
  • Enhance the credit dynamics of a deal to ensure that its approvals are achieved

Whether you are looking to lend to a client that intends to purchase, develop or refinance real estate, our insurance policies can be structured to suit your lending requirements and complete deals. They provide an added layer of security for credit committees from one of the SEC's oldest listed companies.

Risk Management

FAF International has a number of products that lenders are currently using as a risk management tool for existing loans, bonds and underlying real estate.

Existing Loans

Where a bank has an existing loan book, the shrinking equity cushion caused by declining property values has caused many of the loans to have already breached or be about to breach covenants. Lenders therefore have to face the dual problems of potential losses under the loans as well as the increasing capital requirements for Risk Weighted Assets under Basel 2.

As an alternative to a straight equity injection from an unwilling borrower, lenders can turn to FAF International for insurance solutions to aid their risk management:

  • The insurance can ensure that the value prescribed by a valuer (based on a clean title) is the actual value - we have proven examples where there is a significant discrepancy due to ownership issues.
  • Mortgage security insurance provides the lender with the comfort that there will be no issues upon enforcement.
  • Reps and Warranties insurance provides potential purchasers with a proven counterpart in any sale, such that banks or borrowers can position themselves for quick and effective action.

By using insurance solutions, lenders can have another tool in their armoury for managing their current portfolios effectively, that can be provided at a portfolio level or on a loan by loan basis, tailored to specific needs.

Distressed Asset Sales

In the sale of any distressed assets purchasers are able to demand reps and warranties that can make or break a deal. Whether it is an administrator selling a property on behalf of a syndicate of banks, or a bank selling a loan to a pension fund, FAF International can fill the gap between the vendor and the purchaser to provide insurance to replace the required reps and warranties that would ensure a "normalised" sale and avoid institutions having to take risks outside of their normal course of business.

  • With large portfolios sold from administration, policies can be structured to protect the administrator, the purchaser and the lenders. (The premium for the policy is deemed an allowable expense so there is no cost for the mortgagee).
  • Within the sale of loans, the costs of refreshing due diligence or covering off any issues can be prohibitively expensive adding a significant premium on the price, or collapsing a sale entirely - insurance can satisfy the needs of the purchasers quickly and efficiently at a fraction of the cost.
  • FAF International can also cover off any issues of fraud and forgery in real estate transactions which has helped the sale of distressed assets which have been traded in the past.

Whether you are looking to manage an existing portfolio of loans or have specific requirements for a particular scenario, FAF International has a suite of products that can be adapted to fulfil your needs and ensure that your institution only carries the risks that it wants.