Section 58-22-10 - Cash or surety bond or employee dishonesty bond required.
58-22-10. Cash or surety bond or employee dishonesty bond required.
A. All employees of an escrow company and all other persons who have access to money or negotiable securities held in trust by the escrow company or in the possession of the escrow company in the regular discharge of their duties or persons who draw checks upon the escrow company or upon the trust funds of the escrow company in the regular discharge of their duties, before entering upon their duties and throughout the entire term of their office and employment and any subsequent term thereof, shall be covered by an employee dishonesty bond insuring the escrow company against loss of money or negotiable securities. The minimum amount of the bond shall be one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) and shall be executed and acknowledged by a corporation that is licensed by the superintendent of insurance to transact the business of fidelity and surety insurance. The bonds shall be in a form acceptable to the director and shall be filed in the director's office.
B. In the event that an escrow company is unable to obtain an employee dishonesty bond that covers all persons who have access to money or negotiable securities held in trust by or in the possession of the escrow company, such persons shall be covered by a cash or surety bond obtained by the escrow company in the amount of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) running to the people of the state of New Mexico. The surety bond shall be issued by a corporate surety company authorized by the superintendent of insurance to write surety bonds in this state and shall be in a form devised by the director.
C. The provisions of Subsections A and B of this section shall not apply to:
(1) a licensed escrow company after three years of licensure; or
(2) an escrow company whose application for licensure is submitted on or before December 31, 1990, and that for at least three years immediately prior to licensure actually engaged in servicing at least five hundred accounts in escrow activities as a person exempted under the provisions of Subsection C of Section 58-22-4 NMSA 1978.