Arizona Senate Bill 1394 was recently enacted removing the requirement for mortgage licensees to obtain separate mortgage licenses for trade names. The law applies to all of the four mortgage license types — mortgage broker, commercial mortgage broker, mortgage banker and commercial mortgage banker. The effective date of the law is September 24, 2022.
Prior to the enactment of this statute, mortgage licensees were required to obtain separate licenses for all names used in Arizona and to pay the associated licensing and renewal fees. Also, separate examinations were conducted for each license with the associated costs of these examinations.
The Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (“AZ DIFI”) proposed the law under the leadership of Director Evan Daniels. In a recent statement, the AZ DIFI noted that licensees will save resources by not being required to maintain and pay for multiple licenses and that the law will also reduce the administrative costs of the AZ DIFI to allow it to more swiftly process new applications. The AZ DIFI also noted that consumers will be able to locate the trade names and name of the parent business on its website and that it continues to maintain the same regulatory authority over the parent business.