Title insurers: finances and investments.

Existing law defines title insurance as insuring, guaranteeing, or indemnifying an owner of real or personal property or the holder of liens or encumbrances or others who have interests in the property against loss or damage due to liens, encumbrances, or defects in the title to the insured property, defects in liens or encumbrances, or defects in title searches. Existing law requires every title insurer to annually set apart a sum equal to 10% of its premiums collected during the year. Those sums are required to be allowed to accumulate until a fund is created equal to 25% of the aggregate of the subscribed capital stock of the insurer, or $1,000,000, whichever is the lower amount. The fund is known as the "title surplus fund." This bill would increase the annual sum required to be set apart by the title insurer to 12% of its premiums collected during the year and would provide that the monetary amount required to be allowed to accumulate in the title surplus fund, as provided, be increased to $1,250,000.