MISMO®, the mortgage industry's standards organization, today announced the release of its finalized Remote Online Notarization (RON) standards. The RON standards allow the use of audio-visual communication devices to notarize documents in a virtual online environment.

"MISMO's RON standards allow for a fast and convenient closing experience for digital mortgage closings, while ensuring consistent implementation of RON laws across all 50 states," said Rick Hill, Executive Vice President of MISMO and Vice President of Technology at the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

The RON standards have been thoroughly reviewed by a wide range of organizations and industry participants, and are ready for broad use across the entire residential mortgage industry.

Last month, MISMO's RON standards were released for a 15-day public comment period following an approved update on precluding the storage of personally identifiable information. Based on industry feedback received during the comment period, the finalized standards now state that credential analysis procedures and technology are widely accepted as identity proofing processes, and MISMO also supports efforts to explore and permit other types of analysis and authentication.

MISMO created RON standards to promote consistency across mortgage industry practices and state regulations. In the interest of furthering adoption of RON and to encourage consistency in related state regulation, the standards are free to the public and do not require a license fee to use them. The standards include credential analysis, borrower identification, capturing and maintaining a recording of the notary process electronically, audio and video requirements, record storage, and audit trails.

MISMO's RON standards support that was developed by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) and the American Land Title Association (ALTA), which multiple U.S. states are now using to enact RON laws in their jurisdictions. Furthermore, some states that have already enacted RON legislation utilized draft versions of the MISMO RON standards to implement their state law. For more information about the MBA-ALTA State Model RON Bill, please click here.

For more information about MISMO's RON standards or to download them, visit: http://www.mismo.org/standards-and-resources/emortgage-specifications/remote-online-notarization-standards.

The release and use of MISMO standards, including the MISMO RON standards, are governed by the MISMO Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy. For more information on the policy, please click here.