RON platform NotaryCam records strong growth in 2023

Remote online notarization (RON) platform NotaryCam expanded its independent notary platform customer base by 46% in 2023, according to an announcement on Monday.

The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of title firm Stewart.

In addition to expanding its notary platform customer base, NotaryCam also grew the number of loss-mitigation-related RON transactions it was part of in 2023 by 115%.

“We have taken massive strides this past year toward nationwide acceptance of RON and eNotary services,” Brian Webster, the president of NotaryCam, said in a statement. “With a 10% increase in year-over-year total transactions — even in a down market — NotaryCam is poised to drive even more RON adoption across multiple verticals in 2024 while also continuing to champion mortgage lenders’ digital transformation efforts.” 

Last year saw NotaryCam execute transactions in 160 of 192 countries worldwide. In the U.S., NotaryCam became an approved RON provider in North Carolina, Delaware and Illinois. The firm also noted that it is preparing its platform to be a RON provider in California, now that the state has approved the use of RON.

On Jan. 1, 2024, California Senate Bill 696 — which allows notaries to deliver services online and provides notary standards to allow officials across counties to effectively verify documents — went into effect in the Golden State. Unlike earlier drafts of the bill, the law clarifies and confirms that notarizations performed in other states are valid in California. This allows title underwriters, mortgage investors and county recorders to trust that online notarizations are valid and enforceable in California.

NotaryCam is not the only RON platform looking at expansion in California. In early January, Proof, formerly known as Notarize, announced that it had helped sellers and buyers close $374 billion worth of real estate transactions since its founding in 2015, and that it had its sights set on California.

“California has much to gain from making remote online notarization available to its residents,” Pat Kinsel, founder and CEO of Proof, said in early January. “Notarization is critically important for many of life’s most important moments, including buying a home, and residents of the nation’s largest real estate market can now take advantage of a much improved process through remote closings.”

So far, 45 states have passed RON legislation, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Virginia was the first state to approve RON, more than a decade ago, but it took several years for other states to follow suit. With the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in consumer preference, more states have started to pass RON legislation. In 2023, Proof’s home state of Massachusetts passed its own bill that approved RON, a law that went into effect at the start of this year.

States that have yet to pass legislation approving RON include Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Mississippi and South Carolina.