First American Corporation (New)

Greetings and welcome to the First American Financial Corporation second quarter earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. A copy of today's press release is available on First American's website at www.firstam.com. Please note that the call is being recorded and will be available for replay from the company's investor website and for a short time by dialing 877-660-6853 or 201-612-7415 and by entering the conference ID 137-213-69. We will now turn the call over to Craig Barbario, Vice President of Investor Relations, to make an introductory statement.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to First American's earnings conference call for the second quarter of 2021. Joining us today will be our Chief Executive Officer, Dennis Gilmore, and Mark Seaton, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Some of the statements made today may contain forward-looking statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current fact. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made. Risks and uncertainties exist that may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these forward-looking statements. For more information on these risks and uncertainties, please refer to this morning's earnings release and the risk factors discussed in our Form 10-K and subsequent SEC filings. Our presentation today contains certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe provide additional insight into the operational efficiency and performance of the company relative to earlier periods and relative to the company's competitors. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, including presentation width and reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financials, please refer to this morning's earnings release, which is available on our website at www.firstam.com. I will now turn the call over to Dennis Gilmore. Dennis Gilmore Thanks Greg.

Good morning and thank you for joining our second quarter earnings call. All our core businesses are producing strong financial results and we are optimistic that 2021 will be an outstanding year for First American. Today I will focus my comments on the progress we are making on a number of key strategic initiatives and Mark will then provide details on our second quarter results. The process of buying a home is complex and involves multiple parties. First American sits at the center of the transaction, coordinating among realtors, lenders, and consumers to protect the integrity of the process. As the transactions become increasingly digital, First American is focused on leveraging our unique property data and technology to enhance the customer experience and to make the process more efficient and secure for all parties. First Americans' data assets and process expertise provide a unique competitive advantage. Last quarter, we announced our initiative to expand our title plants from 500 to 1,500. By building an additional 1,000 plants, our databases will cover approximately 80% of all real estate transactions. We've made significant progress since our launch. We are currently at 850 plants and are on track to achieve our goal of 1,500 by the year end. These additional plants are currently being built on a goal-forward basis and will accrue significant benefits to us in the years to come as our historical content becomes deeper and richer. Due to our patented extraction process, First American is in a unique position to build these plants at a fraction of our historical cost. Plus, we are now capturing virtually every data point on 7.5 million documents per month. up from $5 million last quarter, data that can be leveraged to automate title underwriting decisions in geographic areas that were previously done manually. In addition to our data leadership, we are focused on developing digital solutions to improve the customer experience. Across the enterprise, we are developing next-generation cloud-based technology to make it even easier for our customers to do business with us. For example, our direct division recently launched Ignite RE, a platform that provides real estate professionals with enhanced productivity tools and enables them to manage transactions from open to close with buyers, sellers, and settlement agents in a secure environment. Ignite RE and Clarity First, which we discussed last quarter, are two examples of technology investments we've made to strengthen our competitive edge, and more will follow. Both platforms make it easier to work with us and expand our customer relationships. To support our technology initiatives, we've hired 130 product managers, designers, and engineers so far this year. These critical hires reflect our commitment to expand our position as the industry-leading innovator. Turning to our venture strategy, since 2019, we've invested $260 million in venture-backed companies in the PropTech ecosystem. These investments give us insight into high-growth technology companies, most of which have become strategic partners. In addition to providing strategic benefit, they are contributing to profits as well. Venture investments will continue to be a component of our capital allocation strategy. In closing, I'm confident that 2021 will be another strong year for First American. All of our core divisions are performing well, and we have a healthy pipeline of business heading into the second half of the year. Our balance sheet is strong, and our strategy of focusing on data and technology to enhance the customer experience will continue to succeed. I'd now like to turn the call over to Mark, who will comment on our second quarter earnings.