The American Land Title Association (ALTA), the national trade association of the land title insurance industry, announced today that Simmons Bank has become a customer of the national ALTA Title & Settlement Agent Registry. Simmons will be able to search the ALTA Registry and verify the identity of title insurance agents and settlement companies, providing an enhanced level of efficiency and security to the real estate transaction.

“The national ALTA Registry is a unique real estate utility created specifically for mortgage lenders,” said Paul Martin, ALTA’s Registry director. “We’re pleased to offer our data to Simmons Bank as we share a goal of safeguarding the security of consumers. The emergence of the ALTA Registry as an effective and easy-to-use source of data and information comes at the perfect time to help counter the alarming increase in wire fraud.”

ALTA launched the ALTA Registry in 2017 as the first national database of title insurance agents and settlement companies. In addition to contact information and branch locations for agents and title companies, each ALTA Registry listing also includes a title agent or real estate attorney’s unique seven-digit ALTA ID.

“Our customers’ security is our priority, and we are always looking for ways to enhance our processes,” said David Frase, president of mortgage warehouse lending for Simmons Bank. “Most real estate wire fraud schemes involve spoofing the identity of the title and/or settlement agent involved in transaction, and the ability to verify the identity of these individuals using the ALTA ID and contact information contained within the ALTA Registry provides added assurance that we are interacting with legitimate parties to the transaction.”

Learn more about the ALTA Registry by visiting www.altaidregistry.org.

About ALTA

The American Land Title Association, founded in 1907, is a national trade association representing more than 6,300 title insurance companies, title and settlement agents, independent abstracters, title searchers, and real estate attorneys. ALTA members conduct title searches, examinations, closings, and issue title insurance that protects real property owners and mortgage lenders against losses from defects in titles.