Stewart Information Services Corp., which owns Stewart Title, has acquired e-notary service NotaryCam in a bid to both advance the digital closing process and spread its wings beyond real estate.
Stewart declined to disclose financial terms of the deal.
“This transaction is a landmark achievement for us as it’s our first fully technology-focused acquisition, expanding our industry reach beyond real estate, and into other areas such as financial services,” Stewart spokesperson John Chattaway told Inman via email.
Houston-based Stewart has made a handful of acquisitions recently, including valuation businesses United States Appraisals in June and Pro Teck Services in October. Stewart also announced a partnership with money transfer protection service CertifID in November to better combat real estate wire fraud.
With the purchase of NotaryCam, Stewart aims to “advance its strategic vision of digitizing, securing and simplifying the title and closing process,” the company said in a press release.
“Stewart and NotaryCam have been partners for years in the digital and eClosing space, leading innovation and change for real estate closings across the country,” said Stewart CEO Fred Eppinger in a statement.
“Together, we will be able to offer customers a suite of new and enhanced customer-centric tools and solutions that will further enhance our secure notarization and eClosing processes.”
NotaryCam offers a flexible workflow for document recording and identity verification, security and customer convenience, according to Stewart. NotaryCam, which is approved by Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, MISMO and many Fortune 500 companies, has successfully handled remote online notarization (RON) requests in various industries in all 50 U.S. states and more than 145 countries, Stewart said.
“Since completing the first-ever purchase and sale mortgage transaction via Remote Online Notarization (RON) in Virginia with Stewart, we have remained strong partners in leading change in the industry,” said Rick Triola, NotaryCam founder, in a statement.
“Now with our pioneering and global leading technology and expertise, combined with Stewart’s financial strength, brand name and resources, we can become the premier, go-to provider of all things RON.”
Asked whether NotaryCam will continue to work with other title companies, Chattaway said, “NotaryCam will continue operating business as usual to all their current customers.”
