Old Republic International Corporation (NYSE:ORI) Q1 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Page 3 of 3

Craig Smiddy: Yes. I’ll kick off, Carolyn, and then you can take it from there. Carolyn, in her opening remarks, touched on and we touched really on three different things that have emerged at the federal level. And as Carolyn said, we really don’t see it materially affecting our business. And I think as you all know, we are very straightforward, and we tell it like it is. And if we were concerned that it was going to have an impact, we would tell you that. But we have looked at all of those issues very closely as a team, working with American Land Title Association on their views. And at the end of the day, because of different reasons for — depending on which one of these things you’re talking about, it may change who pays for something, but — whether it’s the borrower or the lender.

But we don’t see it materially impacting the business because at the end of the day, in order for a lender to sell a mortgage in the secondary market, they’re going to need Title Insurance. And Carolyn, I’ll turn it to you to add more color, if you can.

Carolyn Monroe: Sure. The other thing behind this is no one wants to turn the GSEs into insurance companies, and that’s what happens if they don’t get Title Insurance. And it’s the same with any lender. So that’s why we will follow this, and our trade association has been diligent about telling the title story. Title Insurance is really about preventive, and we do all the work to make sure there isn’t a claim. And we just feel like that more education on this should help because this all goes back to affordability, and Title Insurance isn’t really what’s stopping the affordability right now in homes. So the last thing you want to do is turn a lender or the GSEs into a Title Insurance company. And that’s — I just don’t see that happening. Now the flip side is refinancers are not a large part of Old Republic’s business. We have a lot of attorney agents. So while we’re concerned, it’s always something that we would be able to deal with should it happen.

Operator: And that does conclude our Q&A session. I will now turn the conference back over to management for closing remarks.

Craig Smiddy: Okay. Well, we’ve started 2024, and we feel we have good momentum in General Insurance. And even though we’re cautious about Title because we don’t have any way to predict interest rates and real estate markets in the long term, we’re hopefully optimistic that things will turn where you think there’s pent-up demand. And as Carolyn pointed out, initial indications could be positive. So we thank you all for your interest and your support and look forward to talking to you again after our second quarter. Thank you very much.

Operator: That does conclude today’s conference call, and thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

Follow Old Republic International Corp (NYSE:ORI)

Page 3 of 3